


Time Apart

by BakersHuntress



Series: scenes from Leo Fitz's recovery [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Completely AU, F/M, Friendship, No spoilers for Season 2, Pre-Triplett/Skye Romance, Romance, Team Family Dynamics - Freeform, post-season 1 finale but pre-season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-15 17:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2237232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakersHuntress/pseuds/BakersHuntress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Resurfacing memories make Leo doubt Jemma’s affections towards him, and he insists on some time apart so she could be sure that he is who she truly wants. *Sequel to "1:05 AM"*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Separation

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Anything pertaining to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does not belong to me.
> 
> Author’s Note: Part of my “Scenes from Leo Fitz’s Recovery” series. It follows the same headcanon as "Smile," "1:05 AM," and "The Director." You’ll have to read those to fully understand this story. But if you don’t want to or if you had but don’t remember the plots, here’s a summary of what’s been going on in my headcanon: 
> 
> ~~ start summary ~~  
> Prior to waking up from his coma in "Smile," Fitz’s body had been steadily deteriorating in its comatose state for five days up to the point where he stopped breathing on his own. Unwilling to lose him (and subsequently Simmons), Director Coulson injected Fitz with some of his blood in the hopes that there were lingering GH-325 that could cure Fitz (a la Star Trek Into Darkness, when they used so-and-so’s blood to revive yada-yada [didn’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t watched it and plans to]. I was watching the movie when I thought of "The Director"). His gamble paid off, and Fitz woke up three days later, but with his memories gone. 
> 
> "1:05 AM" is set four weeks after Fitz first woke up. His memories have started returning to him through his dreams. Simmons had been having trouble sleeping. After learning that her insomnia was due to the nightmares about his “accident” (the team, including Fitz, agreed it was best to let him remember naturally and on his own), Fitz suggested she sleep next to him in hopes that his presence would give her peace of mind and keep away the nightmares.  
> ~~ end summary ~~
> 
> Also, I’ve had these plot bunnies for my headcanon since before Comic Con. So this story is completely AU, and does not take into account anything the cast/producers/writers has confirmed/hinted will happen in Season 2.

" _Briefing in two minutes_ ," Coulson's voice resounded throughout the Playground via the PA system. Simmons, who had been enjoying her morning cup of tea while reading up world news on her tablet, immediately set her cup and her tablet down on the crew lounge's coffee table and stood up from the loveseat. In quick steps, she made her way towards the Command Center. Once she got there, she was not surprised to find the Director already waiting along with May, who had recently, officially been made Deputy Director. She said her 'good morning' with a smile to each of them before settling in for the briefing.

Instead of mimicking their positions and remain standing, Simmons went towards a nearby computer station and swiveled its chair around so she can sit facing their direction. Seconds later, Agent Koenig ( _Billy_ Koenig) walked in followed by Skye, who was once again badgering the poor man with questions—questions he'd either ignored or cleverly deflected. Ever since she fully decrypted the Tool Box Fury had given Coulson and learned about Life Model Decoys (LMDs), Skye was eager to prove that the Agent Koenigs were LMDs. She'd gone to Simmons one evening (when Fitz was elsewhere with Triplett) and sprouted her theories—from how Billy showed no sadness for his brother's demise to how scarily similar their first encounters with each Agent Koenig were.

Luckily for _this_ Agent Koenig, Skye's questioning was interrupted by the sound of laughter and running footsteps. Simmons and the others turned to the opened door to see Fitz and Triplett, both in workout clothes, racing towards them. Despite Fitz's height disadvantage, he ran by Triplett's side and kept pace. Just before they reached the door, Fitz surprised Triplett (and everyone else, really) when he suddenly slammed is shoulder against Triplett, causing the Specialist to veer off course and hit the wall. But with the advantage of having years in training, Triplett was able to react quickly, grabbing Fitz by the back of his shirt and pulling him back. He made a giant leap forward, but it wasn't enough. Fitz had already made it through the door.

"I win!" Fitz yelled, raising his arms in victory.

"You cheated!" Triplett yelled back. Fitz lowered his arms and pointed one finger accusingly at him.

"Says that man who announced the race _after_ he took off." Triplett smiled cheekily.

"Not my fault you didn't react fast enough."

They argued about who should have won, accentuating their respective points with pushes and shoves, looking more like two roughhousing teenaged boys than the pair of highly-trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that they were. Simmons knew she should stop and reprimand them. After all, they _were_ in the presence of the Director and Deputy Director. But it was so wonderful to hear Fitz's laughter as he exchanged good-natured gibes with Triplett that she couldn't bring herself to do so.

He'd come such a long way from the state he was in twelve weeks ago when he'd first woken up from his coma. Back then, she could not have imagined a scene like the one playing right before her eyes. Simmons would forever be grateful to the Director for doing what he did and bringing Fitz back to her. The blood he had transfused into Fitz had healed him. Just as Coulson had hoped, his blood _did_ contain some lingering GH-325. But the drug in his system had already been metabolized into a much safer, more human-friendly form. Thus far, Fitz had not shown any of the negative, mental side-effects that Coulson had describe. And there had been no walking around in the middle of the night etching alien symbols on the wall as of yet. Simmons hoped that would never happen.

Since the drug had been broken down, it didn't work remotely as quickly as it did on Skye. But it was enough to heal his body at a faster-than-normal pace, and (more importantly in Simmons' opinion) it was able to heal his brain. Sure his memories still haven't completely returned ( _yet_ ), but they were returning a very rapid pace by any standard.

With all they've been through in the past several weeks, hearing Fitz laugh and seeing him happy kept Simmons from stopping the two grown men from acting like children in front of their superior officers. In any case, judging from the looks of amusement and fondness on both Coulson's and May's faces, she knew neither Fitz nor Triplett would be reprimanded for their horseplay.

Or for their lack of proper work attire.

Simmons frown and tutted when she finally noticed the state of Fitz's clothes.

"Leo. Why didn't you change your shirt? Look at you. You're all sweaty." And he was. The top three-quarters of his red t-shirt had darkened to maroon in its wet state.

Fitz stopped his squabbling with Triplett to turn to her. The grin he sent her way caused her heart to flutter. He started walking towards her leaving Triplett behind.

"Now don't tell me you believe in that old wives' tale that staying in wet clothes gives you the flu, Jemma," he teased. When he reached her, he took the chair from the computer station beside her and straddled it. He nudged her arm with his elbow. "That's not very scientific of you."

Simmons rolled her eyes.

"Of course I don't believe in that myth. But don't you feel uncomfortable?"

"Plus," Skye interjected. "You guys stink." In retaliation for that comment, Triplett gave her a one-armed hug. She squealed in protest before spinning away. Once she escaped his reach, she ran to Coulson's side for protection. All the while, both Triplett and Skye kept laughing.

"Chicken!" Triplett yelled at Skye through his laughter.

In response, Skye stopped laughing long enough to stick her tongue out at him.

"Well, we would have showered and changed," Fitz said when the two started to settle down, "But Coulson only gave us two minutes to get here."

"Yeah. What's the deal, sir? The gym's on the other side of the Playground and three floors up."

"May would give us three minutes to get to the Command Center on the BUS. And the BUS is _much_ smaller than this place."

"Well, you guys got here in a minute and thirty-seven seconds," Coulson responded with his usual smile. "Good job." Both Fitz and Triplett looked pleased with themselves at the compliment. Triplett even stepped closer to Fitz for a congratulatory fist bump. "Now that we're all here," Coulson continued after Triplett had returned to his previous place next to Agent Koenig, "Let's start this briefing.

"As you all know, new members of the World Security Council have been elected. May and I met with these new councilmen and councilwomen as well as with some generals and admirals from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The meeting went well, and they seem to have accepted that we truly are the good guys and not secretly HYDRA operatives. They were also pleased at the progress we've been making in recapturing the fugitives that have escaped from the Fridge. Furthermore, they've acknowledged me as the Director of the new S.H.I.E.L.D.; and they support our on-going missions to rebuild our organization, to take down HYDRA, and to continue to be the shield that protects people. These are all good things. It will be easier for us to do our jobs when we don't have the DOD and its allies trying to capture and arrest us."

The Director paused. By the grave look that settled on his face, Simmons knew that he was finally going to tell them the main reason for this briefing.

"I received word from Colonel Talbot yesterday evening. In the spirit of camaraderie and trust," Simmons noticed a hint of sarcasm at those words, "The DOD will slowly start transitioning the jurisdiction of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities they had seized back to us. Furthermore, they are releasing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had surrendered to Talbot back to our command as well. I know it wasn't what we had planned, but I think it's for the best that we don't stop this transition."

Immediately after he finished, the room was filled with the protest of Simmons, Fitz, Skye, and Triplett. Simmons couldn't hear her words over the others'.

"Time out!" Coulson yelled, doing the gesture with his hands as he did so. Everyone stopped talking. "One at a time. Let's go around and take turns, starting with you Agent Koenig." All eyes turned to him.

"Whatever you think is best, Director. I'll do whatever I can to help." Coulson nodded then turned to Triplett.

"We don't need them. _Any_ of them. Not the DOD, not the Council, and especially not those spineless agents."

"I agree, sir," Fitz began. "The DOD and the Council might have some hidden agenda. And we don't know for sure if we could trust those agents. What if their loyalties now lie with the DOD—"

"—or, worse, with HYDRA! And the facilities they return to us could be littered with bugs placed by the DOD to spy on us," Simmons finished.

"The Tool Box Fury had given you, AC," Skye didn't want to refer to Coulson as 'DC' even if his new title _was_ 'Director,' "It contains the coordinates for fifty fully-equippedsecret bases and six _hundred_ safe houses around the world—"

"—Not to mention the _billions_ of dollars and gold and silver bars in off-shore accounts," Triplett said, cutting Skye off. "By the way, I'm still impressed the brother was able to hide that much money away without someone finding out—"

"—You're getting off track, Trip! Our point is that Fury left us all the resources we need to rebuild."

"He left us all the resources that we'd need," Coulson concurred, looking at Skye as he talked. When he continued, he addressed the whole team. "Except for _people_. I understand all your concerns. As an agent, I have those same concerns myself. But I'm not just another agent anymore—I'm also the Director. That's the reason why I didn't tell you about this right away. And unfortunately for me, diplomacy is now part of my job. As much as I want it to just be us, I know it isn't very practical. We're good. But we can't do everything and be everywhere. Furthermore, I don't want to place the burden of saving the world solely on your shoulders. It would be unfair of me to do so. For now, we will practice diplomacy. We need the DOD's cooperation so they will lend us their personnel, and we need the Council's help in convincing the world that we are _not_ a terrorist organization."

"But, sir, do you _really_ trust them?" Simmons asked, knowing it was on the minds of the rest of her teammates as well.

"Of course not." Coulson didn't even hesitate in answering. "But right now, S.H.I.E.L.D. is still vulnerable. We need to play nice with these people. But I also believe that we need to watch out for ourselves first. We're proceeding with the original plan of running S.H.I.E.L.D. from underground with the Playground as its new headquarters. On the surface, we'll use the former S.H.I.E.L.D. bases and facilities as fronts."

"And what of the other agents?" May asked, finally speaking up.

"We'll keep them on the surface level at first. They've been interrogated by Talbot, so for now, I'll assume they are _not_ HYDRA. We'll slowly introduce agents to the underground once we know who to completely trust. Which reminds me—Fitz, I need you to install the lie detector on the BUS so we can make sure we can give those agents a proper orientation."

"No problem, sir."

"And I need it installed by early this afternoon."

"This afternoon?" Skye asked.

"Yes. The six of us will be leaving for our next mission in the morning. Agent Koenig, I'm sorry. But we don't have an extra bunk on the BUS."

"No worries, Director. I understand. I'd feel weird about leaving the Playground unattended anyway." Coulson nodded at him then addressed the rest of the team.

"This is a diplomatic mission. For the next two weeks, we'll be meeting with DOD officials, and they will reintroduce us to our agents. We'll also be visiting some of the old S.H.I.E.L.D. bases that the DOD will be giving back to us. But while we're doing all that, I want you to secretly observe _everything_ —take note of your initial impressions of the agents you meet, assess the systems in the buildings for bugs or damages if you can do so without being noticed, and so on." He paused to sigh. "And there's one other thing….I can't believe I've never noticed this about government officials before, but they apparently love ceremonies and parties. To celebrate the rebirth of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Naval Academy Alumni Association and the West Point Association of Graduates are hosting a gala in our honor. Several DOD higher-ups, all the new Council members, some U.S. Senators, and ambassadors from several countries will be in attendance."

There was a moment of silence as the team stared in disbelief at their Director.

"They've got to be bloody kidding!" Fitz was never one to hide his emotions. "The old S.H.I.E.L.D. has collapsed, HYDRA is out and more powerful than we ever thought possible, hundreds of our comrades have been _killed_ , and we're struggling to rebuild our organization; but those bloody people think it's the best time to throw a party?" he asked incredulously.

"They even have a ceremony planned symbolizing the transfer of command from the DOD to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Bloody _ridiculous_ ," Fitz muttered, shaking his head. Coulson gave a small nod in agreement.

"So Fitz, the lie detector please. We need it installed ideally by 1400 hours."

"Why so soon, sir?" Triplett asked.

"Because we still need to shop for something to wear to the gala. Skye, transfer some of those off-shore funds to our local account." The hacker gave a heavy sigh. "What's wrong?"

"Now I'm torn between being annoyed at those bastards and being excited about the shopping trip." Coulson smiled at her.

"Go with excited. It's not everyday I give you guys an order to shop for pretty clothes. All right, be ready by 1500 hours for the shopping trip. For now, assist Fitz with the installation if he needs it. If not, prepare for tomorrow's departure. You are dismissed."

Simmons barely left her chair when Skye grabbed her arm and started talking about what type of dress to buy. She listened to her friend prattle on about what colors their dresses should be and what type of tux they should make the guys get. Simmons didn't even realize that Fitz wasn't behind her until she and Skye reached the door. She'd turned her head so he could see her roll her eyes but found that he wasn't there. She stopped walking and turned around to find him talking with Coulson.

"Something wrong, Leo?" she asked before she could stop herself.

He gave her a smile that was too large to be real.

"No. Nothing. Just need to speak with Coulson about something. I'll catch up with you later, yeah?"

Simmons could tell he was keeping something from her, but she held her tongue. Instead, she nodded then continued to walk with Skye out of the Command Center. She'd ask him about it later when it would just be the two of them.

* * *

Simmons brought it up again that night once they've settled themselves in Fitz's bed. She was on her side, her head resting on his chest and her right arm wrapped loosely around his middle. Fitz was on his back, his left arm bent at the elbow so he could rest his head on his hand. His right arm was around Simmons, his hand rubbing her back up and down in long strokes.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong now?"

His hand stilled on her back for a second before resuming its movement. He continued to be silent, and he would not look at her.

"You've been distracted all throughout the shopping trip….You're distracted now. What's on your mind, Leo?" When he finally answered, it was almost a whisper.

"I'm not going with you tomorrow."

"What?" She sat up in alarm and looked down at his face. "What do you mean?"

He sat up as well and moved backwards until his back was against the wall.

"I won't be going with you and the others on the mission. I'll be staying here updating the communications system and assessing the systems in the other secret bases remotely." Simmons furrowed her brows in confusion as she tried to comprehend what was going on.

"And what about me?" she ask, afraid of the answer.

"Coulson will need you with him to examine the state of the laboratories in the facilities."

"We're being separated," she stated. Her voice sounded hallow to her ears. "I don't understand. Coulson didn't say anything about—"

"— _I_ asked to stay behind, Jemma." His confession was like a slap to her face.

"Why?"

"There's something I haven't told you….I've gotten back some old memories."

"What could you have possibly remembered that made you want to be separated from me?" She was desperate now, and didn't bother hiding it.

"Mike Peterson. Trip." He wouldn't look at her as he answered.

"What about them?"

"I'm not your type, Jemma."

"What?" This was fast becoming the most bizarre conversation Simmons has ever had—and in their line of work, that was saying something. Fitz sighed but finally turned to her.

"You like men like Mike Peterson and Trip. Tall, well formed, symmetrical. Of African decent. I'm none of those, Jemma."

That wasn't true. Fitz was actually quite well formed and symmetrical. But she didn't voice that out—she didn't want to explain how she knew _that_ particular bit of information.

"Leo—"

"—Wait. Let me finish, please." He paused and leaned forward so he could reach for her hand. "Look, Jemma, I think we need some time apart."

Now that felt like a punch to her heart. She leaned back and pulled her hand away from his. Fitz sighed before continuing.

"I just…I never hid the fact that I'm in love with you. Even when I didn't remember who you were, I just _knew_ that I love you. And when I started getting my memories back, I could see a difference. We're closer now than we were before my accident, and it _seems_ like you feel the same way. Sometimes, I pretend that you do. But these recent memories, they tell me a different story." Tears started to pool in his eyes, and he looked down to hide them. "If the accident had never happened, you probably would have ended up with Trip."

Seeing Fitz like this, hearing how defeated his voice sounded, pained Simmons greatly. She didn't realize she'd been crying until Fitz reached up to wipe the tears from her face.

"Trip: He's a good guy, a great friend. And I know he hasn't made a move on you since I've woken up. But I can't go on believing that the only reason you're with me now instead of with him is because you feel some sort of guilt. I may not know what happened to me yet, but I could see your guilt sometimes when you think I'm not looking."

"Guilt is not the reason why I'm here with you, Leo."

"I want to believe that, I really do. But I need to know that you've thought this through—whatever _this_ is between us. I don't know what you feel for me. And I don't think you know what you feel for me, either. Maybe some time apart will give you some clarity. You can step back and see things from a different angle."

"Leo, this is so stup—"

"— _Please._ Please, Jemma. Please do this for me. I don't know how to love you anymore. I don't know how you want me to love you."

He was begging. The plea in his voice stopped the protests forming on her tongue.

"All right," she said quietly, finally agreeing.

"All right?" She really wished he wouldn't sound so hopeful about being separated from her for two weeks straight.

"Yes. But I'm only doing this for you." She couldn't help the bit of spite, but he apparently didn't hear it since he got on his knees and hugged her fiercely to him.

"Thank you."

She hugged him back, relishing the feel of his arms surrounding her.

"So, this separation—is it total blackout? As in, we'll have no communication with each other whatsoever?"

"I think it will be best. That way I won't distract you."

_I want you to distract me!_ Simmons wanted to yell. But she kept that thought to herself.

"We're still best friends, though. Right?" she asked instead. Simmons felt his laughter reverberate through his chest.

"Silly, Jemma. That would never change. No matter what you decide, I'll always be your best friend."

It surprised Simmons how little comfort his words brought.

"Come, on," he said as he released the hug, "Let's get some sleep."

They resumed their previous position with Simmons laying her head on his chest. If Fitz noticed how she snuggled against him closer or how she hugged him tighter, he didn't mention it.

They spent the rest of the night pretending to be asleep and knowing that the other was pretending as well.

* * *

There was an outcry from both Triplett and Skye when it was announced during breakfast that Fitz would not be joining them on the mission.

They calmed down when Fitz and Simmons fed them the excuse that Coulson needed one of them to update the communications systems in their new headquarters and to serve as back up in case a big analysis needed to be done that could not be processed by the BUS's equipment, while the other was needed to assess the laboratories and systems conditions of each site after being manhandled by the DOD. Both Triplett and Skye looked like they didn't believe them but kept their mouths shut when Coulson backed up Fitz's and Simmons' excuse.

May stayed silent throughout the whole ordeal, but there was no doubt in both scientists' minds that she knew exactly what was going on.

When the time came for the team to board the BUS, Fitz walked with them to the hangar. Everyone hugged him goodbye starting with Coulson, then May, then a huge bear hug from Triplett, and a tear-filled one from Skye. Once Skye released Fitz, Triplett walked with her into the BUS following the same path Coulson and May took. Finally, only Fitz and Simmons remained.

Two seconds passed where the two just stared at each other. Then, as one, they stepped forward and clung to one other like it would be their last time doing so. They stayed like that for several seconds before Fitz broke the silence.

"You'll be back before you know it."

Simmons chuckled when she heard the words she'd said to him weeks ago when a previous mission forced them to separate. She gave him one last squeeze then pulled away.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

Reluctantly, Simmons made her way up the loading ramp.


	2. Day 2/The Best Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Anything pertaining to "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." does not belong to me.

The day after the team—sans Fitz—had left the Playground, Skye had finally gotten Simmons alone for questioning. Not that Simmons had been purposely avoiding her friend (she would never be that mean). It just so happened that everyone on board the BUS had apparently decided that she should not be left by her lonesome. She was touched, truly she was. It was really nice to know that she was cared for. But she did start to feel a bit suffocated that first day she'd been separated from Fitz when she kept receiving worried glances and pitying smiles from the others.

This second day was starting out a little less suffocating. More than half of the team was required to be out of the BUS, and thus away from her. Coulson had an appointment to meet with some colonels and generals at a Washington state Air Force base. While he was at the meeting, Triplett and May oversaw the refueling and maintenance of the BUS. That left Simmons with only Skye to deal with for the time being.

As soon as Coulson, May, and Triplett made their way down the stairs and out of the Upper Deck, Skye immediately rounded on Simmons.

"Ok, spill. What's the real reason Fitz isn't on this mission?" It sounded like she'd been itching to ask that question for the longest time. Knowing she was never going to get away with not answering, Simmons gave in and told her friend the truth.

"He asked to stay behind."

Skye just stared in perplexity for several seconds before surprising Simmons when she narrowed her eyes at her.

"I don't believe you. Fitz would never choose to be away from you."

Simmons sighed and made her way towards the galley. If it was inevitable that they have this conversation, she might as well have a snack while doing so.

"Obviously, he did." Simmons started going through the cupboards both to stop herself from becoming emotional and to look for something to eat. Unfortunately, everything was reminding her of Fitz—the popcorn, the potato chips, the pretzels, the cookies. She immediately dismissed the idea of making herself tea.

"But… _why_?"

Simmons could understand Skye's confusion and incredulity. She was feeling them herself.

"Because he's being ridiculous," Simmons answered while closing the cupboard door. She couldn't find anything appealing among its contents. Then she spied a bowl of fruit sitting atop the counter. There were apples and bananas. Bananas reminded her of monkeys, and monkeys reminded her of—

Simmons quickly took an apple.

"He said he'd gotten some memories back." She turned her back to Skye so she could rinse her apple in the sink.

"What could he have possibly remembered that made him want to be away from you?"

Simmons faced her again after shutting off the faucet.

"That's what I asked him," she said as she dried her hands and her apple on a paper towel. Then she started making her way back towards the crew lounge. Skye followed after her. "He said that he'd remembered Mike Peterson…and Trip."

They sat facing each other on the two chairs of the sofa set.

"What about them?"

Simmons could feel a blush warm her cheeks, and she looked down at the apple her in her hand to avoid Skye's gaze.

"Well, I…I sort of may have had a slight—tiny really—very _very_ small crush on Mike Peterson." Simmons forced herself to look up, only to be met with a huge, teasing grin on Skye's face. "Oh, shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

Simmons broke eye contact again.

"Leo also remembered the time when we first started working with Trip—"

"— _Oh_. I think I'm starting to get it." Simmons' eyes snapped back to Skye's.

"Well, good. Then can you please explain it to _me_?"

Skye shook her head.

"Not yet. What else did Fitz say?"

Wanting to hear what Skye had in mind, Simmons plunged on.

"He stated that he wasn't my type. Then he said he believed that if the incident with Ward and the pod had never happened, I'd probably be with Trip. Though, of course, he doesn't know about all that. He just called it his _accident_. He thinks that the only reason why I'm even with him is because I feel guilty about what happened to him."

"And what did you tell him?"

"The truth. That guilt is not the reason why I was with him. Then he begged— _begged—_ me to agree to a separation. I couldn't say no with the way he was looking at me. We agreed to a total blackout—no contact whatsoever while we're on this mission."

"Why a separation though?"

"He didn't want to distract me while I think about how I really feel about him. He wanted me to make sure that who I really want is him. But he also promised that no matter what, we'll always be best friends."

" _Aww…_ ," Skye cooed.

Simmons narrowed her eyes at her.

"Can we please focus?"

"What? It's adorable. Fitz is such a sweet guy. Oh, stop glaring at me. I promise I'm not about to steal your man," she said jokingly. The glaring only intensified, but Skye ignored it. "Anyways, the last time we talked about the subject of you and Fitz, you said you were just best friends—best friends who just happened to share a bed every night for the last two months but don't do naughty things to each other….Supposedly." Simmons threw a pillow at her, which Skye deftly caught and then hugged to herself. "Look, we all know that Fitz is madly in love with you. But do you even know what you feel for him yet?"

"Yes!" Simmons stopped talking at Skye's pointed look. "Okay, fine. Maybe I don't know exactly what it is that I feel for Leo. I _do_ know, however, that I do _not_ want to be with Trip, or any other man for that matter. But am I in love with Leo? I don't know. I love him, yes. I care a lot about him. He's my best friend in the world. But I've never been in love before so I don't know if that's the type of love I feel for him."

"Well, it looks like Fitz had the right idea, then." A pause. "He's different, isn't he? I mean, he's still the same Fitz we all love. But…I can't explain it."

"I know what you mean. It like…he's a different version of himself—the Leo Fitz he would have been all along if he had grown up with friends who had loved and accepted him. He's less awkward socially, more patient, angers less frequently."

"Yes! That's it! And he's also more mature now."

"How so?"

"Well, the Fitz from before the accident wouldn't have given you this space, I think. He was too possessive of you; didn't know how to share you. Remember how he got when you and Trip would flirt with each other?"

"I did _not_ flirt with Trip," Simmons said indignantly.

"Fine, when Trip flirted with you, then. Fitz got so jealous."

"So that's why he didn't like me back then?" asked a familiar _male_ voice.

Simmons' eyes widened in alarm, and she quickly stood from her seat. She noticed Skye stood from her chair just as quickly.

"Trip!" they both said at the same time.

"When did you get here?" Simmons asked.

"Just now."

"Stupid Specialist with their stupid, stealthy feet," Skye muttered.

"Wait. Am I the reason why he's not on this mission with us? I knew that 'updating the systems for our new headquarters' excuse was bull. I just never thought _I'd_ be the reason that he didn't come with."

The only other time Simmons had seen Triplett's calm and cool demeanor slip was when he'd found out his S.O. was not only the Clairvoyant, but also part of HYDRA.

"You weren't the reason, Trip," Simmons said earnestly, trying to reassure him. After they all sat down, Simmons explained the reasoning to him. "So, you see, this separation isn't about you," she continued once she'd finished her explanation for the second time that day. "It's about Leo and me."

Triplett looked pensive.

"Okay," he said after a few seconds. Then he pointed to the apple, which Simmons hadn't realize she'd placed on top of the coffee table at some point. "You gonna eat that?" When she shook her head 'no,' he took the apple and bit into it. "Still," he said after swallowing. "I really need to talk to him. Last thing I want is for my best friend to think I'm out to take his girl away from him."

The moment sort of froze for Simmons as her brained analyzed (and reanalyzed ten times over) the words that Triplett had said.

"Excuse me, Trip. What did you just say?"

"Don't get me wrong, Simmons. You're one fine woman. And I _did_ like you back then. But if I'd known Fitz had a thing for you, I wouldn't have even tried. Truthfully, I thought he was into Skye."

"Really?" the younger woman asked. "Why?"

"Because of how he was when we went down into the Guest House after you got shot. I haven't worked with a lot of Sci-Ops agents, but the few that I had didn't have the backbone that Fitz showed down there."

"That's just Fitz being Fitz. He would have done that for any of us. Though when I first joined the team, he did try to hit on me…I think." The specialist laughed.

"You think? My man wasn't smooth, then?"

"Not at all. It was actually pretty fun—"

"Hold on a second," Simmons interrupted. Then she directed her next question to Triplett. "What I meant was: What did you call Fitz?"

He looked confused for a second as he thought back to what he'd said.

"You mean about Fitz being my best friend?"

Simmons had to forcibly calm herself.

"I believe you are mistaken. Fitz _can't_ be your best friend because he's already _my_ best friend."

"Oh, shit," Skye muttered from her seat. But Simmons barely noticed since her focus was on the best-friend-stealing fiend sitting on the sofa beside her.

"What? You mean I can't call him my best friend just because he's already your best friend? You can't put a claim on him like that! What's wrong with _both_ of us being his best friends? A person can have more than one best friend, you know."

"The 'best' implies only _one_ ," Simmons retaliates.

"How about you guys stop fighting over Fitz, and we all agree that _I'm_ his best friend from now on?" Both Simmons and Triplett turned to Skye with unamused expressions. "Bad joke?...Okay, I'm staying out of this." Skye stood up and started walking towards the stairs that led down the cargo hold.

"Where are you going?" Simmons asked after her.

"I'm going to hang with May. She'll be more fun than you two are being right now."

"See what you did?" "Now look what you've done." Triplett and Simmons said at the same time.

"Look, Simmons. I know that between the two of us, Fitz considers you his best friend. I'm not arguing that," Triplett relented. "But you can also say that I'm his _male_ best friend. I mean, wouldn't you say that Skye is your _female_ best friend?"

Simmons mulled over this for several seconds. Reluctantly, she had to admit that Triplett had made valid points. She realized at that moment that although she had made great progress, she still had a long ways to go before she could fully be comfortable in sharing Fitz.

"Fine. You win."

"This wasn't a contest, Simmons. But if it were, I think we both won." He gave her a huge grin which she couldn't help but return.

"So how are you holding up?" he asked after a few moments.

"I miss him, but otherwise I'm all right. Then again, it's only the start of the second day."

"What you need to do is distract yourself. Come on, let's go save May from Skye."

Triplett stood and started for the stairs. Simmons took a moment to brace herself for another day without Fitz before following after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter was inspired by an e-card from someecards.com that says: "That moment when you hear someone else call your bestfriend their bestfriend and you are like…No." I cracked up when I saw that e-card, and immediately thought of FitzSimmons.


	3. Day 3/The Intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Anything pertaining to "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." does not belong to me.

It was the third day of their separation, and Simmons was starting to lose focus while working. This was partly due to her lack of sleep. She'd become so accustomed to sleeping with Fitz that she had trouble finding slumber without him. However, even if she did manage to fall asleep, her nightmares would return. Having no contact with Fitz was so reminiscent of the time he'd been in a coma that it was no surprise to Simmons when they had started up again.

If it had only been sleep deprivation, Simmons would still have managed to work properly and efficiently. She was used to long hours in the lab after all, having done all-nighters all throughout her academic and professional career. But she was also distracted by the constant reminders of what she was missing. And she did miss him. Terribly.

Simmons had to stop herself from looking towards Fitz's side of the lab. Each time she did, her heart ached at seeing the emptiness where he should have been standing.

It also didn't help that she had a perfect view of Lola through the glass laboratory doors. Seeing Lola only reminded her of the first time she and Fitz were separated. Though, unlike their current separation, neither Fitz nor Simmons had chosen to be apart that first time.

Since the fall of the old S.H.I.E.L.D., Director Coulson had made it one of their ongoing missions to recapture the Fridge fugitives. After Fitz had woken up from his coma, was out of danger, and was recovering from his ordeal; the team had put their efforts into doing just that (as well as working on ways rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. and continuing to protect the people, of course). At first, it had only been Coulson, May, Triplett, and Skye who would venture out. Fitz hadn't been cleared for field missions for the first six weeks of his recovery, and Coulson didn't have the heart to order Simmons to leave his side. She hadn't been needed anyway.

Until, of course, a mission came that required forensic analyses out in the field.

The mission itself was a fairly standard one—standard by their team's definition, at least. Skye had scoured the internet and hacked into databases in search of trails that could lead to the possible whereabouts of a fugitive. Her latest find brought them to an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of rural Idaho. Unfortunately, by the time Coulson, May, Triplett, and Skye got there; the place had been empty. Since the electronic trail ended there, they needed forensics to show them their next move. With Fitz still recovering, he'd been left behind while Simmons went out with the rest of the team.

Simmons still remembered their goodbye.

" _We'll be back before you know it," she'd said for the fifth time in the last half hour, and_ _she was sure that_ _Fitz_ _was resisting_ _the urge to roll his eyes._

" _I know, Jemma."_

" _We're not even taking the BUS, just the jumpjet—"_

"— _Jemma, I got it. It's ok. Really—"_

"— _And you know we hate that we're leaving you behind by yourself—"_

"— _I won't be by myself. Agent Koenig will be here as well—"_

"— _And we don't want you to feel like we don't need you or anything like that, because we do—"_

"— _Jemma, stop. Stop worrying about me. For goodness sake, I'm the only one who should be worrying. I'll be safe and sound here in this fortified secret base while you and the rest of the team will be out in the field facing who knows what."_

" _It's just that—"_

"— _I understand, Jemma. I understand why you're not ready to clear me for field missions yet._ _"She had taken over his medical care when Dr. Streiten—who'd determined that Fitz was recovering nicely and that Simmons was no longer hindered by her despair—left the Playground a week after he had woken up. "_ _I'm still recovering. Hell, I still lose my balance sometimes walking on solid ground. I doubt I'll fair well on that jet. And this cast is greatly limiting. I can't work efficiently with just one hand. As much as I want to be by your side and help, I understand why I can't."_

" _But I hate that I have to go, too. Why can't I stay back like I've done before, again?"_

" _Because as much as we love our friends, neither of us trust them enough with our babies."_

_She sighed in defeat._

" _We really should train Skye or Trip in how to operate the D.W.A.R.F.s."_

" _Maybe we will, but not in the next fifteen minutes before you're due to leave." Fitz lifted the case that held the D.W.A.R.F.s and handed it to Simmons. "Here you go. Be careful out there." Despite his bravado,_ _she still heard the e_ _motion that slipped into his words._

_Simmons took the case from him and set it beside her on the floor. Then she stepped forward and encircled her arms around his neck._

" _We'll be back before you know it," she whispered again. He chuckled as he pulled her tightly against him._

" _I'll believe you more if you stop acting like you'll be gone for months."_

" _But it really won't take long," she insisted. "We just have to gather forensic evidence and whatever else information we can find on this next fugitive, is all." She still hadn't let go of him_ _, and she was relieved when he didn't let go of her either._

" _Please don't jinx it_ _," Fitz said softly. "_ _Every time we're supposed to be on a data retrieval or reconnaissance mission, we somehow end up in a confrontation with the enemy." If only he were joking._

Just as Simmons had predicted, the mission hadn't taken long. They had returned to the base by the late afternoon. But just as Fitz had predicted, they _had_ ended up in a confrontation with the enemy.

The D.W.A.R.F.s had only been released to run their respective analyses for a few minutes when the fugitive returned. There was a scuffle, and Triplett had received a few bruised ribs. But May took care of things before long, and the fugitive—a man arrested for the theft and illegal sales of alien artifacts—was restrained and brought back to the Playground, where he would be held until they could transfer him to the custody of the DOD.

With the mission completed, Simmons was eager to get back to base. But when they got there, she and the others became concerned when the only one to greet them back was Agent Koenig. Now that it was after the fact, Simmons still felt a bit guilty for having been so harsh on the harried man. But at the time, her reactions felt justified.

" _What do you mean you don't know where Leo is?" she almost yelled. "You were the only other person here!"_

_"Well, I may have been kind of distracted by Call of Duty," said Koenig, who was highly flustered and who looked extremely intimidated by the woman half his size. "We were both playing at first. But he got frustrated when his character kept on dying. He couldn't hold the controller properly with his arm and hand in a cast. After a while, he got up and left. Said he was going for a walk. Haven't seen him since. But I assure you, no one has entered or left the Playground. The alarms didn't sound off until you guys were approaching."_

_Before he even finished,_ _Skye had rushed passed him and towards the nearest computer._

" _I've tracked his lanyard," she said after a few keystrokes. "It's in your office, Billy."_

" _Agent Fitz must have taken it off, then. I just came from my office, and he wasn't there."_

_As soon as he was done speaking, Coulson had hurried towards the phone on the wall and connected to the PA system._

" _Fitz," his voice rang loudly overhead. "If you're hearing this, please pick up a handset and respond."_

_They waited._

_With each passing second, the sound of Simmons' heartbeat thudded louder in her ears._

" _Fitz," Coulson called again. "This is an order: Pick up a handset and respond."_

_Dozens of scenarios crossed Simmons' mind as the silence stretched on. All of them bad. Was he hurt? Had he lose balance again? Did he fall and hit his head? Was he unconscious somewhere and bleeding?_

" _Simmons," she vaguely heard, but ignored it._

_What if something bad had happened to him? The last time she came back from a mission and team members had gone missing, she found the body of a fallen agent hidden in the pantry. Then they found out that one of theirs had actually been HYDRA all along. Had someone come in without Agent Koenig noticing? Had someone taken Fitz?_

"Simmons _," the voice was more insistent, but she ignored it again._

_Did Fitz's amnesia relapse? Was he lost? Did he not know who he was?_

" _Simmons!" the voice shouted._

_She snapped out of her thoughts and found Coulson standing right in front of her with one hand on her shoulder. She briefly wondered when he'd crossed the ten-foot distance from the phone to her position._

" _Relax."_

_Only when he made that command did she realize how tightly she had her fists closed. She forced herself to relax her hands._

" _We'll find him. The security footage doesn't look like it was tampered with, and the alarm system is working fine. As far as we know, no one has come in or gone out of the Playground except for us. Fitz is here somewhere. We just have to find him."_ _He turned his head to look at the others. "Spread out. Find Fitz. Once you find him, contact the others through our personal comms." The others didn't hesitate to follow his orders. Once they've gone, he turned to Simmons again. "You're with me."_

Simmons had nodded and followed after him. In any other situation that didn't involve a missing and possibly hurt Fitz, Simmons would have been in a huff. She would have argued that she was a capable woman who didn't need anyone to babysit her. But it _was_ that sort of situation. So through her fear and barely-contained panic, she felt gratitude towards her superior officer. If the worst scenario has happened, and they found Fitz—

She hadn't been able to finish that thought then, and she still couldn't do so now. But _if_ the worst had happened, then she took some comfort in that she wouldn't have been alone.

They had each taken a floor: Triplett searched the uppermost floor (Level 1), May the second, Skye the third, Koenig the next one lower, and Coulson and Simmons searched the lowermost floor (Level 5).

As soon as the elevator doors opened at their stop, the heavy bass of some rock music reached their ears and vibrated the walls. Relief rushed through Simmons' being and she was able to breath properly again.

Simmons barely registered Coulson contacting the others. She was too focused on following the music and seeing for herself that Fitz was truly all right. As she slowly walked down the corridor, the music got louder. Suddenly, the loud, repeated tapping of some machinery pierced through the lyrics of the song. She saw an opened door and walked through despite the loud noises emanating from it.

There was Fitz, alive and well.

And fixing Lola.

He was crouched next to the convertible. He had it on the car lift, and had raised it up a few inches off of the ground. The tapping noise was caused by the impact wrench Fitz was using to tighten the lug nuts on the wheels. Moving her eyes off of Fitz, Simmons focused on Lola and saw the vast improvement of its condition. The tires have all been replaced. And so had the windshield. The hood still needed to be repainted, but the bullet holes and dents have been repaired.

Finally done securing the last wheel, Fitz stood from where he was crouching and immediately noticed Simmons at the entry way. He smiled in greeting before he went towards the counter to lay down the impact wrench. Then he moved to the nearby computer. After a few keystrokes, the music blaring through the speakers overhead stopped.

" _Back already?" he had asked once he turned back to Simmons. "The mission went well, then?"_

_Before she could reply, Coulson had come up from behind her with the others in tow._

" _Fitz, what are you doing?" It was hard to miss the hope and disbelief in Coulson's words. The answer was obvious, but Fitz had humored his superior officer nevertheless._

" _Well, sir, I've been trying to repair this little beauty. Here I was—walking around the Playground bored and feeling sorry for myself—when in my exploration, I stumbled onto this sad sight. Broke my heart when I saw its condition. Honestly, who in their right mind would shoot at a classic like this?"_

" _Lola."_

" _Excuse me, sir? Is that who shot it?"_

" _No. That's its name: Lola."_

_Fitz chuckled slightly._

" _You call it a girl's name?"_

_Suddenly, his chuckles stopped, and a look of confusion made its way onto his face. He was looking in the team's direction, but his eyes were unfocused, like he was seeing something beyond them._

" _Fitz, are you all right?" Simmons asked in concern._

_He didn't answer. Instead, he bent forward and supported himself up against Lola with his hands. That's when Simmons finally noticed it—Fitz had removed his cast. She wanted to admonish him about it, but now was not the time since he looked to be having some sort of panic attack. Instead, she rushed to his side. The others followed after her, but stayed on the other side of Lola so they won't be in the way._

" _Fitz?" Simmons tried again. She placed one hand on his shoulder, and used her other hand to rub his back. She hoped it would calm him down and snap him out of whatever it was that was happening to him._

_Luckily, it had worked. After a few seconds, he raised his head. His eyes focused on Coulson, and he began to panic again._

"' _Don't touch Lola.' You didn't like anyone touching Lola. Shit! I'm so sorry, sir. I'd only just remembered. I swear, if I had known—"_

"— _Fitz! Stop," Coulson commanded. Then he made his way to where Fitz stood. His serious expression melted into a huge grin._

" _You're fixing Lola!" he said jubilantly. Much to everyone's surprise, he grabbed Fitz in a bear hug and started laughing. After several seconds, he pulled back but kept his hands on Fitz's shoulders. Then he turned Fitz so they were side by side and swung an arm around his shoulder. "He's fixing Lola!" he said towards the team members facing them from the opposite side of the convertible._

_Simmons hasn't seen Coulson so happy since, well, since long before he'd been named Director (and all the events surrounding his promotion)._

" _So you're not mad?" Fitz asked timidly._

" _I could kiss you right now," was Coulson's reply._

" _Please don't."_

_The director laughed._

" _Does she run?"_

_In answer to Coulson's question, Fitz reached into the car and turned the key in the ignition._

_The beautiful sound of the engine purring filled the room. Skye and Triplett both cheered, and Coulson looked like he could cry. Several seconds later, Fitz reached into the car again to turn the key and stop the engine._

" _Sorry," he said once he'd straightened back up again. "Didn't want to leave it on too long with the fumes and all. The exhaust fans aren't turned on."_

" _So you're all right now, Fitz?" At Simmons' concern, Fitz walked up to her and grabbed her hands._

" _Hey, now. Stop worrying about me. I'm fine. I just didn't expect a memory to return so suddenly, is all."_

" _Good. So now that you're better, maybe you can explain that." She looked pointedly at his left arm._

_Fitz flinched._

" _Oh, come on, Simmons. It was getting in the way. I couldn't work with that cast on. And you said my arm should be fine now. You were going to take it off soon anyways."_

" _In another few days!"_

" _But that was just as a precaution. You said yourself that the x-rays look good."_

" _Okay, fine. But have you forgotten the part where we talked about you doing physical therapy to get the strength back in your arm?"_

" _It's strong enough. Plus, I didn't put a lot of strain on it. I used my right hand to do most of the work. And the machines did all the lifting. I even held off on the extremely heavy loads. Otherwise, I would have removed the engine completely so I can modify it to make it more efficient and more powerful. I figured out why the thrusters failed when Skye and Coulson did that starting drop from the BUS. The engine simply lacked power."_

_That caught Simmons' attention._

" _You remembered that?"_

" _What?"_

" _The thrusters failing."_

" _Yeah, Skye told us about it. Remember how ridiculous she looked with her hair all wind-blown?"_

" _Of course you'd remember_ that _part," Skye said, and Simmons was reminded that she and Fitz weren't alone._

" _Oh! I've gotten that memory back as well! I didn't even realize it. It just came to me while I was working."_

" _So when you're working or doing something familiar to you, you start remembering more?" Triplett asked, his hope building up with each word he spoke. "You start remembering faster?"_

" _Seems so."_

" _Sorry, Simmons," Coulson said, catching her off guard. "I know I've appointed you the Chief Medical Officer of the team, but I'm overriding your orders in this case. I'm clearing Fitz for field missions."_

_Simmons gave him a smile._

" _It's all right, sir. I perfectly agree with you."_

_Then Fitz asked something that wiped the smiles off of all their faces._

" _By the way, Jemma, the memory I just got back, I think it was from when we first got on the BUS. There was a man with us. Looked like a specialist. You swabbed his mouth. Who was that?"_

It was the first time Ward had ever made it into his memories.

Simmons responded by apologizing to Fitz and telling him that he'd have to remember on his own. He was disappointed at hearing that familiar reply, but Coulson and Triplett quickly distracted him by eagerly asking what they could do to help.

The next minute was filled with the voices of the three men as they discussed what part of Lola they should work on next.

They only stopped when May cleared her throat and reminded Coulson about the captive they still had to turn over to the DOD. The pleading, puppy-dog looks from Coulson, Triplett, and Fitz had her rolling her eyes, but she relented and said that she would handle it. Skye had offered to go with her. Simmons did as well, but May told her she'd be needed at the Playground more. She still had to check Triplett's ribs after all. Simmons knew May was just giving her an out so she could be near Fitz, and she was grateful to her for it.

The memory with Ward had disturbed Simmons for several days after. As far as she could tell, Fitz's subconscious was protecting him by not bringing up any memories of the person who'd almost killed him. But since then, more and more memories had Ward making cameos. Simmons dreaded the day when all of Fitz's memories regarding Ward would return. It was hard enough seeing his reaction towards Ward's betrayal the first time, and she didn't look forward to seeing it again.

At that thought, Simmons let out a heavy sigh.

"All right! I've had about enough of this." Skye's words brought Simmons back to the present.

"Enough of what?"

"Of you looking so gloomy and so…un-Simmons-like. That's the third time you sighed in the last half-hour." With that, the hacker picked up her phone and started tapping away on the touch-screen. After about thirty seconds, she walked up to Simmons and held out her phone.

Simmons looked down towards it and then raised her head back up to Skye.

"You're giving me your phone?"

Without saying anything, Skye took one of her hands and placed her phone in it.

"No. I'll want it back later. But for now, _answer it_."

Before Simmons would ask anymore questions, Skye walked out of the lab and left her alone. Curiosity winning over, Simmons held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked hesitantly.

"Jemma?" came a very familiar voice through the phone's receiver.

"Leo?" she responded hopefully, her hand wrapping around the phone a little tighter.

"Skye's doing, I presume. Alarms were going off all over the place when she hacked into the lab's intercom."

She let out a laugh.

"Who else? Sorry if I'm violating our blackout agreement."

"I'm not sorry."

"Truthfully, neither am I."

"So how've you been?"

"Missing you."

"I miss you, too."

"It's different being in the lab without you. And not in a good way."

"I know what you mean. Koenig tried keeping me company at first, but he got bored of my ramblings after about two minutes and said he needed to run some diagnostics on the security system. Diagnostics my arse. He's just play Call of Duty again, I bet."

"The lab here has been quiet. Skye usually does her work in here to keep me company. But it's not the same as working with you."

"I miss having you here to bounce off my ideas with."

"So do I." She paused, then, "I just had a thought."

"Well, go on. Tell me."

Simmons' pulse started to speed up.

"Despite what our personal relationship is, we're still professional partners, right?"

"Yes. Of course."

Her hands started to feel clammy as they started to sweat.

"And it doesn't seem right that our personal relationship would affect our professional partnership like it has been."

"That makes sense."

Her pulse hammered in her ears.

"So I propose—and you can disagree if you believe otherwise—but I propose that as long as we only talk about work and our projects with one another; then we're not violating the space we promised to give each other. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I completely agree."

And Simmons felt as if her world had righted itself once again.


	4. Day 6/The Other Best Friends

The agreement Fitz and Simmons made to only talk about work-related subjects lasted about four minutes before they were back to being FitzSimmons again and talking about anything and everything. The current arrangement they've come up with allowed them to communicate only via the written and spoken word. Absolutely no pictures or videos of themselves could be exchanged between one another. And this time, they promised to follow their own rules. But that was all right with Simmons because just being able to speak with Fitz again dissolved the constant cloud of melancholy that hovered over her head ever since she'd left the Playground.

Simmons was extremely grateful to Skye for reconnecting her with Fitz. And she was highly honored that their resident hacker had given up her precious phone to do so. Simmons did feel terribly guilty, however, when she'd handed the phone back the next morning even as Skye brushed off her apologies. She hadn't meant to keep it that long. But when she was talking with Fitz, time had gotten away from her. They'd talked long into the night and up until Simmons couldn't keep her eyes opened any longer.

Luckily, Fitz remembered that he had an old, encrypted phone hidden in his bunk on the BUS. He'd made it when he'd first come to the United States as a means to contact his mother without having to pay long distance charges. But the development of video-chatting and voice-over-the-internet had deemed the outdated phone practically useless. Still, he kept it for sentimental reasons. Both Fitz and Simmons were glad that he did.

Fitz quickly fabricated a similar phone for himself. Now, they were able to talk to each other without having Skye hack through the Playground's security systems. (Agent Koenig was very relieved and happy about that.)

Simmons had Fitz on speaker almost the whole of the next day as well—as she worked in the lab, when she had meals with the team, when she played Scrabble with Trip and Skye after dinner. They also watched the latest episode of _Doctor Who_ together before bedtime.

May even allowed her to keep Fitz on the line when they were training in hand-to-hand combat the next morning. Hearing Fitz's voice cheering for her (even if he couldn't see her) had spurred Simmons on. For the first time since she'd started training, Simmons had caught May by surprise and swept her legs right from under her. Of course, May quickly retaliated and had Simmons sprawled on the mat less than two seconds later. But it was still a great accomplishment to have brought down the Cavalry.

After their workout, the BUS had touched down at the Sandbox where some of the agents from the old S.H.I.E.L.D. had started cleaning up. Simmons was required to meet with them along with the rest of the team so she had to take a short hiatus from speaking with Fitz. As soon as the meet-and-greet was over, she didn't bother to linger and made her way back to the BUS. She called Fitz again once she'd returned to the lab.

"You're back early. It went that badly, huh?"

Simmons rolled her eyes as she powered up her instruments so she could continue her experiments from the day before.

"It's not that it went badly, it was just really awkward. I really didn't want to stay any longer that I had to."

Now that the instruments were running, she went to the refrigerator and grabbed the unknown samples she'd collected from a previous field mission. She wasn't required to analyze them since the mission was successfully completed. But the fact that it was an unknown piqued her curiosity. She used whatever free time she had to run tests to identify them. (They could be of alien origin, after all.) Once she'd gotten the samples, she made her way towards her workspace to prepare them for observation under the microscope.

"Why was it so awkward?"

"You mean besides how they've run off like scared puppies and are now basically coming back with their figurative tails between their legs?" The familiar chuckle that came through the speaker of the phone had Simmons smiling.

"Yeah, besides that."

"It was how they were acting around us. They kept looking at us in admiration or something. Not just Director Coulson, but _all_ _of us_. It was disconcerting. It was… _weird_."

"What's weird about it? Sounds kind of brilliant having them look up to you like that."

Simmons rolled her eyes before she started observing the prepared slides under the microscope.

"Of course _you_ would say that. You love pulling rank and bossing people around."

"I don't _love_ it. But, when you're always the little guy and always being pushed around, you learn to appreciate the moments where you get to do the pushing. Did you recognize anyone?"

"All of them were from Communications. So no, I didn't."

Before Simmons could say anything any further, the laboratory doors opened with a swoosh, and Triplett walked in.

"Hey, Simmons," he greeted.

"Hello. Are you all back or is it just…."

Her question died in her throat when Triplett walked passed her and towards the phone. He grabbed it and removed it from speaker mode.

"Hey, man!" he said into the phone. His enthusiasm was punctuated by a huge smile.

"Trip, what do you think you are doing?" Simmons was unamused.

Triplett removed the phone from his ear and pressed it to his chest.

"You've been hogging Fitz for three days straight. And we let it go because we all saw how much you've missed him. But girl, he's mine too. And I want my turn with him."

With that, Triplett ran out of the lab with the phone in hand. Simmons moved to go after him but only took two steps before she remembered that she couldn't leave the samples out of the refrigerator for too long.

The doors swooshed opened again, and a confused Skye walked in.

"What's up with Trip?"

"He took my phone!" Then she reiterated what he had told her. "Don't you think he's being immature?"

"Actually, I think he had a point," Skye replied, then turned around and started walking towards the doors.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to make sure I get my turn. You know how those two get when they start talking about vintage gadgets. Fitz is my friend too, you know?"

Before Simmons could reply, Skye had already stepped out of the laboratory, leaving her alone once again.

After a few seconds of consideration, Simmons turned around and made her way back to her slides and microscope. They were right, she knew. She _had_ been keeping Fitz to herself. Even if she did have Fitz on speaker during meals or game nights with the team and they were able to speak with him then, she hadn't given anyone else a chance to have some one-on-one talks with him. Simmons knew the others cared a lot about Fitz. She also knew they cared a lot about her as well, hence why they'd let her get away with being selfish for three days. Now that she thought it through, it didn't surprise her that Triplett was the first to say and do something about it. However, it did surprise her that he had waited so long to do so.

As she resumed her observations of the samples, Simmons resigned herself to a day without Fitz's voice drowning out the whirring of the instruments. Although they were on the same page in wanting to spend as much time as possible with one another, she knew Fitz missed the others as well. Once he was done with Triplett and Skye, he'd insist on speaking with Coulson and May—though the conversation with the latter would be mostly one-sided.

Not that May wouldn't want a turn to speak with him. Despite being ever-stoic and seemingly uncaring, everyone on the team knew that May had a soft spot for Fitz. They'd found that out during his first field mission after his coma.

It was five days after Fitz had been cleared to go out into the field. Skye had caught a lead on Ian Quinn's whereabouts. Unfortunately, the team had missed Quinn by mere days. The hacienda in southern Portugal where Skye had tracked him to had already been abandoned by the time the team got there. Although they'd found evidence that he had been there, Quinn left no clue as to where he was headed. More than a little disappointed, the team made their way back to the Playground.

Simmons had been in the lab going over the data the D.W.A.R.F.s had gathered from the hacienda again (just in case they'd missed something the first three times she and Fitz had gone over it), when May's voiced sounded through the PA system overhead.

" _You have one minute to lock everything down and strap yourselves in."_

Dread immediately filled her heart, but she forced herself calm so she could follow May's orders. Moving quickly through the lab, she stored any loose glassware in their proper places and grabbed any tools Fitz had left out and placed them into their respective containers. All the while, Simmons' mind was filled with panicked questions.

Were they being attacked? Were they being followed? And where the bloody hell was Fitz? He'd gone up to the galley to look for something to eat. But that had been over ten minutes ago. Now they were probably going to be shot out of the air, and he won't be beside her so she could keep an eye on him and so he could keep her calm.

As soon as everything was locked down, Simmons ran out of the lab and strapped herself into one of the seats that lined the cargo hold's walls. Almost as soon as she heard the distinct click of the buckle locking in place, the plane abruptly changed course. It literally felt like the BUS did a complete stop in midair before it turned around and started moving in the opposite direction.

After several seconds, the plane finally stabilized, and Simmons no longer felt like she might throw up. As quickly as she could, she unlocked and removed the seat straps. Then she ran up the stairs that led to the Upper Deck.

When she got to the lounge, she saw Skye and Coulson about to make their way towards the cockpit. She felt a tinge of fear when she didn't see Fitz with them. Skye was the one who saw her first.

" _Do you know what the hell is going on?" she'd asked._

_Simmons shook her head._

" _No. Where's Fitz?" The question sounded desperate even to her own ears. Before she could panic further, the man in question answered._

" _I'm right here." Moments later, Fitz walked towards them from the direction of the galley._

" _Do you know what's going on?" Skye asked him._

_Fitz looked confused for a moment._

" _I'm not sure. It was kind of strange. I was looking for something to eat when May came into the galley. She asked if she could help me look for something, but I said I didn't know what I was looking for. I told her I was craving something savory, but I didn't know what. Then I said it could be a sandwich, but I didn't see what I wanted in the fridge or the cupboard. Next thing I know, she's smiling at me. Then she tells me to sit down and strap in. She disappears moments later, and then I hear her voice overhead. And then, of course, I'm glad I hadn't eaten anything yet or it would have made its way back up again. And why the hell are you all bloody smiling at me like that?"_

_Simmons hadn't even noticed she was smiling until Fitz pointed it out. Looking at the others, she saw that they all held the same expression. Coulson was the first to break the silence._

" _Don't worry about it, Fitz. We're just relieved because we now know what's going on."_

" _Do you? Well, that's good. So what's going on?"_

_Just then, Triplett came jogging in from the cockpit, where he'd been co-piloting with May._

" _Don't panic!" he said as he approached. "Everything's fine. Just taking a not-so-slight detour."_

" _So are we heading to the nearest Italian deli?" Simmons asked. "Or to Italy itself?"_

_Triplett didn't even look surprised that she already knew what was going on._

" _Please say Italy," Skye pleaded. "I really want a good memory to replace the nightmare of my last trip there."_

_Triplett grinned down at her._

" _Then you are in luck. We're going to Italy!"_

" _Wait," Fitz interrupted. "Why would we be going there? That's completely out of the way if we're heading back to the Playground. Did we get a new mission?"_

" _You could say that," Skye said. "Mission 'prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich.'"_

" _With a hint of my home-made pesto aioli, Skye. You can't forget about that."_

" _We're going to Italy for a_ sandwich _?"_

_Fitz's expression was filled with incredulity._

" _It's your favorite sandwich, Leo," Simmons said with a smile. "And we're going to Italy for the ingredients, not the sandwich itself."_

" _I've heard a lot about this sandwich, but I haven't had one myself."_

" _Just you wait, Trip," Skye said, "It's delicious. Prepare to be blown away."_

_Simmons smiled at the compliment._

" _I still don't understand," Fitz cut in. "Why would May change course and go out of our way just for a sandwich? I'm not a picky eater. I could just grab a bag of crisps or something."_

_Simmons didn't know what to answer. She hadn't the faintest idea why May would do so. But apparently, Coulson did._

" _She isn't doing it for a sandwich, Fitz," he started. "She's doing it for you. It's one of the ways she shows she cares. The thing about May is that she's not very talkative. Unless she knows that words are what you need, she'll used actions to show you that you're important to her. Then add the fact that you were on the verge of regaining another memory—of your favorite sandwich no less—no wonder she changed course."_

Ever since then, Fitz had made an effort to get to know the combat specialist. And surprisingly, she let him. May would allow him to babble on and on to her whenever she ran through her Tai Chi stances. She even offered to teach him how to fly the BUS. Eventually, Fitz had learned to decipher the meaning of Melinda May's pointed stares. He was almost as good at it as Coulson.

* * *

Just as she had predicted, Simmons didn't get Fitz back to herself until well after dinner time. But instead of retiring to her bunk, Simmons decided to continue working in the lab.

"It's just weird that my memories stopped returning all of a sudden. Two days and no new memory. I'm not used to it," he said for the third time.

"Well, considering that it's only been three months since the accident, I think it's spectacular that you've gotten most of your memories back."

"I know. But I just wish I remembered all the details. I hate that there are holes in my memories. And then this sudden stop."

"Well, one can't remember _every_ detail of his or her encounters. The brain doesn't work like that."

"Ours does. Or rather, mine _did_." Sensing his declining mood, Simmons decided to steer their conversation in another direction.

"I'm sure the details will return eventually, Leo" she reassured.

"Do you really believe that?"

"Of course I do. Now stop doubting your Chief Medical Officer," she said playfully. "By the way, at what point did your memories stop at?"

"Did I not tell you? Sorry. Thought I'd mentioned it. We were heading back to Providence after rescuing Audrey Nathan."

Simmons' hand, which was about to reach for an Erlenmeyer flask, halted in midair. Her heart rate sped up, and she had to force her voice even when she spoke.

"Heading back? So we haven't reached the base yet?"

"No. We were still on the jumpjet."

"What exactly is the last thing you remember?

There was no answer for several seconds.

"Leo? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I…I'm still here." The apprehension in his voice surprised Simmons.

"What did you remember?" she gently urged. Despite her calm and steady voice, she'd actually started to get even more anxious.

"It's just that….Well, you and I were alone at the back of the jet. You were telling me that Trip thinks he's done something to upset me. You asked what the matter was. I told you that it had nothing to do with him. I said it was all me—that I hated change."

Simmons blushed as she remembered that conversation. How could she have been so blind towards her best friend's feelings towards her?

"Then nothing," he continued. "Maybe if I force—"

"—No!" Simmons hadn't meant to raise her voice. "I mean, don't force it. It might do you harm. Also…."

"'Also,' what?"

"I don't want you remembering any more until we get back."

Nothing sounded from the phone's speaker for several seconds.

"I'm close, aren't I? I'm close to finding out what happened during my accident? I'm close to finding out who that man in the suit is?"

"Yes," she answered truthfully.

"And it's not at all good." It was a statement, but Simmons replied anyway.

"No. So promise me you won't force it. Please, Leo."

"I promise."

"Thank you."

With that settled, Simmons continued her work. She fill a centrifuge tube with some prepared samples then placed it into the centrifuge before turning on the machine.

"Hold up, I know that sound. You're in the lab! What the bloody hell are you doing in the lab, Jemma? It's almost eleven. I thought you'd be in bed by now."

Simmons blushed in embarrassment at being caught. She thought to herself how she really _must_ be tired to have slipped up like that.

"I know I won't be able to sleep even if I do lie down. So why waste time staring at the ceiling when I can continue my analyses of these unknowns." She tried to sound light-hearted and upbeat, but the words sounded forced and fake.

"You're having trouble sleeping again," he'd guessed correctly. "Why didn't you say something?"

She wasn't surprised when he wouldn't let it go.

"I didn't want to worry you."

She heard him give an exasperated sigh.

"Hold on for a minute. I have an idea."

"What did you have in mind?" No answer. "Leo? You there?" Nothing again. With a shrug, Simmons continued her work.

It was silent from Fitz's end for about eight minutes before his voice returned.

"Sorry I took so long. I had trouble finding the darn thing."

"Finding what exactly?"

Fitz ignored the question.

"Grab your tablet and turn it on, please," he said instead.

Her curiosity piqued, Simmons did as told. Once the tablet blinked on, she immediately heard the steady beeps that represented Fitz's heartbeats. The screen showed the graphic representation of his heart function and the numerical count of his blood oxygen levels.

"I remember you telling me that this was the only way you were able to sleep when I was still held in the infirmary. Maybe it will help now."

It did. After some coaxing on Fitz's part, Simmons cleaned up the lab and got ready for bed. She had the best night's sleep since leaving the Playground.


	5. Day 8/The Flash Drive

Simmons didn't bother looking up from her laptop screen when she heard the familiar sound of the lab doors opening.

"Good morning, FitzSimmons!" Skye's voice called out.

"Morning," Simmons greeted back distractedly, still focused on reviewing the notes Fitz had sent to her. Though in her peripheral vision, she saw Skye take her usual seat at the end of the workbench before setting up her laptop.

"Fitz? Why are you being so quiet? That's not like you!"

Skye was practically yelling, and it was ruining Simmons' concentration. She supposed she should say something so her friend would quit talking so loudly.

"He isn't here."

"You couldn't have told me that _before_ I started talking to the empty space?" Simmons ignored Skye's sarcasm. "Is he talking with May or AC? I passed Trip on my way here, and he didn't have your phone."

Simmons sighed quietly in defeat. She knew she wasn't going to get any more work done until she answered the other woman's questions. After she finished typing up her thoughts on the word processor and hitting the 'save' button, she swiveled her seat until she was facing Skye.

"No. He isn't talking with anyone. He's asleep. Or at least he should be sleeping. Can you believe he actually stayed up all night making notes and sketching designs on upgrades for the D.W.A.R.F.s?"

Skye simply stopped typing and stared blankly at Simmons.

"All right," Simmons conceded. "I suppose it's not quite _that_ unbelievable."

"More like not unbelievable at all. I'm actually a lot more surprised he'd willingly go to sleep while you're awake."

"Well, I may have had to pull rank on him and ordered him to bed."

"But you're both the same level."

"I pulled rank as the team's medical officer."

Skye quirked an eyebrow.

"Nice one."

"Thank you." Simmons gave a cocky smile.

"So now that you're finally Fitz-free," Skye began slowly, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

The mood turned serious at Skye's words, and Simmons felt a tinge of unease that she tried to hide.

"Go on, then. You've never been shy about asking me questions before."

"Have you figured out what Fitz is to you yet?"

"I'm sorry?" Simmons asked more to buy herself some time to rein in her nervousness than to have Skye rephrase her question. Skye must have known that, but she paraphrased her words anyway.

"I mean, this is the eighth day you've been away from him. And in those eight days, you've only _not_ spoken to him for two-and-a-half. Probably not even that. Has this separation given you the clarity Fitz was hoping it would? Have you figured out what it is you feel for him? Do you feel the same way about him as he does for you?"

Simmons broke eye contact and looked down at her lap. She still didn't know the answers to those questions.

"Have you even thought about it at all?" Skye continued when Simmons remained silent.

"Honestly," Simmons looked up at her friend. "No, I haven't. I've kind of been steering clear of that train of thought, actually."

Skye groaned.

"Jemma, we'll be heading back in _six days_ , and you know he'll be expecting an answer."

"I know, I _know_! It's just that—It's...It's _complicated_."

"Okay then, let's un-complicate it."

"How do you mean?"

"Fitz thinks that he's not your type. Is he right? And before you say you don't know," Skye got out quickly just as Simmons was about to say just that, "Think about this first: Do you even find Fitz attractive in, you know, _that_ way?"

"What way exactly? Because I'm not sure if the way you're thinking about matches the way I'm thinking about."

"I meant _sexually_!"

Simmons struggled to hold her blush down.

"Yes, well, we definitely had differing definitions of _that_ way. My definition was more of the romantic, PG version."

"You guys are _already_ doing the romantic, PG version _._ You spend the whole day talking to each other, you cuddle, you finish each other's sentences, and don't you for one second think that the rest of us can't hear the beeps from his heart monitor at night. Not only are the walls of our bunks thin, but they also aren't closed off at the top."

"Why didn't anyone say anything? I would have turned it down or worn earphones had I known it was bothering you."

"Because it wasn't bothering any of us. And it's actually kind of soothing once you get used to it. But stop changing the subject! Do you or do you not see yourself having sex with your best friend?"

Simmons felt heat flood her face and neck. She was sure she looked like she'd been thoroughly sunburned.

" _Skye_! Must you be so crude?"

The hacker rolled her eyes.

"What? It's not like I cursed or anything. But if you insist, then _fine_. Do you see yourself _making love_ to your best friend?"

" _No_! It's—it's _rude_. I can't—I _won't_ disrespect Fitz by thinking naughty things about him like that."

"It's not disrespectful. It's _natural_. Having hormones is a natural thing."

Simmons shook her head from side to side repeatedly.

"Then maybe that's your answer," Skye said after a long, disappointed sigh.

Simmons stopped shaking her head.

"What do you mean?"

"If you can't picture yourself being intimate with Fitz, then maybe you really do have only platonic feelings for him. And if that's the case, you have to let Fitz know as soon as possible. That way, he could try to get over you before we get back. Or at least try to get himself composed before you two meet face to face again."

Simmons was finding the idea of Fitz getting over her highly unpleasant. In fact, she found that she didn't like the idea at all.

"I didn't say that I _can't_ see Leo in that matter. I just don't allow myself to."

"Well, maybe you should. Look, Fitz is willing to be whatever you want him to be. He's already said he'd still be your best friend no matter what you decide. Just…just don't string him along, Jemma. He doesn't deserve that."

"I am not stringing him along!"

"I know you don't mean to, but you kind of, really, are—every time you avoid thinking about how you feel about him and every time you hold off on making a decision."

"It's just…It's—"

"—I know. It's complicated. And it's difficult. You like what you guys have going on, and you don't want to lose it. But Jemma, Fitz is giving you all the power here, even if it's highly unfair to himself. He's willing to stay _just_ you're best friend even though we all know he wants more." Skye paused to lean forward in her chair. When she continued, Simmons could hear the plea in her voice. "Jemma, this is _Fitz_ we're talking about—the guy who proved time and time again that he'd do anything for you. What he deserves is an answer. Isn't he worth the complications and difficulties?"

After that loaded question, Skye dropped the subject, and both women went back to their respective work. However, Simmons had trouble focusing on her experiments and projects.

Skye's words about stringing Fitz along had really gotten to her. Simmons would never intentionally do anything that would hurt Fitz and jeopardize their friendship. But if Skye had seen her lack of effort in making a decision as leading him on, did Fitz see it that way as well? She worried that he did.

On the up side, Skye's words had also made Simmons determined to decipher her feelings for him. Her first step, she'd decided, was to try and think of Fitz in the way that Skye had suggested. And try she did. But with each attempt, she could not get past the guilt of thinking about her best friend in that manner. It also did not help that she'd kept on blushing. After a while, she stopped trying. At least for the time being since she was still on duty, and since there was a witness present who kept teasing her mercilessly about the shade of pink she was turning.

Ironically enough, she was only able to stop fretting about her decision when the person in question called her phone shortly after lunchtime. She was too engaged in their easy conversations, friendly banters, and exchange of ideas that she was able to once again push the subject of, well, _Fitz_ to the back of her mind.

It wasn't until just before bedtime did Simmons continue thinking about him and their relationship. She had just said her goodnights to Fitz and the rest of their team, and was finally alone her in bunk. After making sure she'd locked her door (for the fifth time), she dug through her middle drawer looking for the one object she knew would help her start thinking of Fitz in _that_ way.

From the very back of the drawer, beneath a stack of neatly folded underwear, she pulled out a flash drive. With it clutched in her hand, she settled herself atop her bed where her laptop was already booted up and waiting.

Before she could bring herself to plug the flash drive into her computer, however, Simmons' conscience stopped her. She stared at the small USB device for a long moment, still unable to believe that she was actually going to look through its content. Simmons had promised herself that she never would immediately after Skye had handed it to her. She could have declined the flash drive or destroyed it right away, but Simmons' pride prevented her from doing so. It would have greatly unsettled her if she didn't have a copy of the files while knowing that Skye and May did.

Starting to get annoyed as she struggled with her conscience, Simmons irrationally put the blame of her current predicament on Triplett. The events that led to the existence of the flash drive started because of him, after all.

It happened two weeks ago during another mission. The team had apprehended another Fridge fugitive, and then left her in the custody of a Delaware Air Force base. On their way back to the Playground, Triplett had made an absurd request.

" _I'm sorry? Could you repeat that, please?" Simmons asked with narrowed eyes that indicated that she had understood him the first time._

_Triplett raised both hands up in a placating manner._

" _It's only for an hour. Ninety minutes tops!"_

" _You're banning me from going downstairs!"_

" _Hey, now. I did_ not _use the word 'ban.' I'm just asking you to stay up here while Fitz and I work out, that's all."_

" _This is absurd! Why would you need me to stay away when all you'll be doing is exercising? I've been present while you two worked out before."_

" _Yes. And you were a great distraction to Fitz."_

_Simmons' mouth opened but she had felt so indignant that it took a few seconds for words to actually come out._

" _I do not distract Leo!"_

" _Actually, Jemma," said Fitz when he finally decided to make his way towards the arguing duo instead of watching from several meters away with Skye, "You kind of do."_

" _I can't believe you're taking his side."_

" _Oh, come on. Don't be cross with me, Jemma. It's only the truth. I do get distracted when you're there. I mean, if I had to choose between exercising with Trip or talking science with you, you know I'd always choose you." He finished by giving her a smile._

_And Simmons' heart soared. A smile nearly made its way onto her lips before she remembered that she was supposed to be angry. She forced a frown instead._

" _Look, Simmons," Triplett said calmly, "I understand that you want to be close by in case something happens to Fitz. But do you really think I'd allow him do anything that could possibly strain or injure him? I care about him too, you know. He's my friend, too."_

" _You two will be in the cargo hold. I'll be in the lab. I won't get in the way."_

" _I agree. You won't get in our way. But you'll set the lab doors to remain opened, and hold conversations with Fitz when he's supposed to be spotting me as I bench press."_

" _Again," Fitz interrupted. "I am so, so sorry about that."_

" _Stop apologizing. We're cool," Triplett said to Fitz. Then he turned back to Simmons. "What do you say, Simmons? May we please have an hour-and-a-half of distraction-free bro-time?"_

The immediate answer that had formed in her head was 'no.' And she knew that it was for a very childish reason: Simmons did not like having to share Fitz. They were friends first, and they were friends the longest. She felt like she had some sort of claim on him because of that. And frankly, she'd never had to share him before he'd gone into a coma and lost his memories.

Just a few months ago, Fitz would always be by her side, never willing to go where she wasn't unless he was ordered to or a mission had called for it. This new Fitz, however, would gladly spend time with one of their other teammates, even if it was away from her. And she disliked it very much.

It was stupid and selfish of her, she knew. And Triplett had been right—Fitz was his (and everyone else's) friend as well. He wasn't just hers anymore.

Days later, it would suddenly occur to her that the selfishness and—to be perfectly honest—the jealousy she was feeling must have been what Fitz felt when she had first brought Triplett into their fold. Then she laughed quietly to herself when she realized that both she and Fitz had been jealous because of the same person.

But at that moment, with Triplett pleading like a child for her to let Fitz play with him downstairs, Simmons wanted badly to say 'no.' However, after his speech, a denial would be akin to admitting that she didn't trust him with Fitz. That would have been unexpected coming from her since she was the one who vouched for Triplett and convinced the team to trust him in the first place. And of course he had to bring up that minor incident where his ribs were nearly crushed in by the barbell. Even though it was his fault for adding too much weights in the first place (and he'd admitted so), she and Fitz still felt guilty about it. Add to that the sincerity in his voice when he called Fitz his friend, and how could Simmons say no to him?

" _Fine." She made sure to add in as much attitude as possible._

" _Fine?" Triplett looked genuinely surprised._

" _Yes, fine. But I'm timing you. As soon as the ninety minutes are over, I'm going downstairs. I can't run my experiments from up here."_

_All her irritation melted away seconds later when Fitz blindsided her with a quick kiss on her cheek._

" _Thanks, Jemma. I'll make it up to you later."_

Before she could say anything in return, Triplett had grabbed Fitz and rushed them both out of the crew lounge like he was afraid Simmons would change her mind.

About half an hour after they'd left, Simmons discovered that time _could_ move slower than it should. Or at least that was how it had felt like. With Fitz and Triplett working out in the cargo hold, Skye and May in the cockpit for the former's flying lesson, and Coulson doing whatever Director duty he had for the day; Simmons was alone and utterly bored. No TV show or movie had appealed to her liking, nor had any title from their digital library. With nothing to do, Simmons wandered the BUS.

Minutes later, she'd found herself in the empty Command Center. She was about to continue walking on when a thought occurred to her: The Command Center has access to every system on the BUS…including the security system. Or more specifically, the security _cameras_.

Simmons had known that she shouldn't. It was an invasion of privacy. It would be a violation of their trusts.

But what was the harm in checking up on Fitz? Wasn't it her job as the team's medical officer and, more importantly, as his best friend to make sure Triplett wasn't overworking him? Plus, it would only be for a few seconds, and no one but her would ever know.

Simmons had taken a good look around to make sure she was still alone. Then before she lost her nerve, she made her way to the holocom at the center of the room. After a few taps, she accessed the BUS's security system. A few more taps later, she brought up the live video feeds from all the security cameras on board. They were displayed in a row of small, individual squares. She scrolled through them until she found a shot angled downward from the back of the plane.

It showed the area in front of the lab doors where Fitz and Triplett had set up their makeshift gym. She touched and held that square until its white outline turned blue. Then she moved the square upward and flicked it out through the top of the table. The video feed transferred to the large viewscreen on the wall in front of her. Using the digital control panel on the bottom right of the holocom, she had the camera zoom in so she can get a closer look.

Fitz was lying at an incline on a weight training bench (facing the camera's general direction) and doing some chest presses with a barbell. By the steady pace he was setting, Simmons could tell he wasn't straining himself much at all. She found herself rather surprised and very much impressed, especially since there was a twenty-five-pound plate at each end of the bar,

Then out of nowhere, Skye's voice had called out.

_"Hey, Jemma! What are you doing in here?"_

_Simmons literally jumped in surprise. Then she frantically tried to close out the video feed and hide all evidence of what she'd been up to. But she was too late. Skye had already stepped into the Command Center._

" _Holy crap! You're spying on Fitz and Triplett!"_

_Even as her face burned in embarrassment, Simmons still managed to desperately shush her friend._

" _Keep your voice down, would you? And I'm not spying on them. I'm just making sure Fitz is okay."_

_Simmons was not a violent person, but at that moment, she had an intense desire to smack the smirk off of her friend's face._

" _I'm pretty sure you're spying on them." Skye turned her attention to the video feed still playing on the viewscreen. "Whoa. Look at Fitz go! How heavy is that thing?"_

" _Ninety-five pounds total," Simmons answered as she too turned her attention back to Fitz._

" _Damn. I'm impressed. I didn't know he could press almost a hundred pounds."_

" _Neither did I. Though he could most likely lift more if he reduced the repetitions."_

" _How is he able to do that, anyway? Didn't he and Trip_ just _start working out together?"_

" _Technically, Leo had been doing physical conditioning for several months now."_

" _Oh, that's right. The physical therapy sessions."_

" _Yes. And I believe the GH-325 is helping as well. With the drug in his system, his muscles recover faster from his workou—_ What do you think you are doing _?" Simmons all but shrieked her question at Skye, whose hands were still working the controls of the holocom._

" _What does it look like? I'm saving some screencaps."_

"What the bloody hell for? _"_

" _No reason. Oh, look. It's Trip's turn. And he's adding more weights. No surprised there." She took more screencaps and saved them into the folder she created._

" _Stop it! You can't do this. It's an invasion of privacy. And these are our friends. It's…it's…it's_ rude _."_

_Skye turned to Simmons and gave her a calculating look._

" _I'll send you a copy of all the screencaps featuring Fitz."_

" _You'll have to encrypt them. I don't want Leo accidentally stumbling onto them when he borrows my computer." The words tumbled out of Simmons' mouth before she could stop them. She ducked her head down partly to hide her embarrassment and partly to avoid seeing Skye's knowing smirk._

" _I'll save them on a flash drive then. That way you can hide it. But I'll still add an encryption just in case."_

_A new movement on the viewscreen brought both women's attention back to the video._

" _Oh, my god," Skye said excitedly. "They're going to spar! A screencap won't cut it anymore. I'm recording this."_

_Simmons' eyes widened in alarm._

" _No, Skye! That's going too far."_

" _No it isn't. It's just the next step. In fact, stupid me, I should have been recording all along."_

" _Skye,_ no _! I—I'm sorry. But I'm pulling rank. Skye, I order you to not record this."_

_Skye stared at Simmons in surprise for a several seconds before sighing in defeat._

"Fine _. You win."_

_An awkward silence followed in which Skye avoided eye contact. As the silence stretched on, Simmons started to worry that she'd truly offended her friend._

" _You're not angry, are you?"_

_Skye turned to her and gave a gentle smile._

" _Of course not, Jemma." She bumped Simmons' shoulder with hers. "I'm just a bit disappointed that I can't have my fun. But you were right." Simmons relaxed at the reassurance. "Can you even pull rank anymore? Do we still have levels?"_

" _Yes, we still do. Now why would Simmons need to pull rank?" a familiar voice asked from their left._

" _May!" Both Simmons and Skye shouted in surprise._

_Their superior officer looked from them to the large viewscreen that showed Fitz and Triplett sparring on the mats. When she returned her attention back to the two younger women, she had an eyebrow raised as if asking a silent question._

" _It's not what it looks like." "We can explain." Simmons and Skye said simultaneously. The slight, upward curve of May's lips was the only thing that prevented Simmons from completely panicking._

" _It looks to me like you two are spying on the guys," May said with a hint of amusement in her voice._

_Simmons felt her face heat up again._

" _Okay," Skye conceded. "So it_ is _what it looks like."_

_Simmons turned to glare at her friend. She was not helping their situation._

" _We are_ not _spying! I just got bored and decided to check up on Fitz; make sure he's not straining himself."_

" _Were you ever going to tell Fitz you were checking up on him?"_

_Simmons couldn't look May in the eye._

" _Well…no."_

" _Then you're spying."_

_Skye snorted, and Simmons turned to glare at her again._

" _If you have nothing to do in the mornings, I could train you."_

_Simmons snapped her head up towards May in surprise._

" _I couldn't impose. I mean, you're already training Skye—"_

"— _You wouldn't be imposing, Simmons. And the three of us could work out together."_

" _Yeah, Jemma. It'll be fun!" Skye looked so excited at the prospect of training together that Simmons could no longer say no. Plus, if Fitz was training, she really should train as well._

" _Thank you, May. That would be wonderful." May nodded at her with a smile, while Skye actually whooped._

" _We'll figure out a schedule later. There'll be days when I'll have one-on-one sessions with each of you and days when we'll train together as a group. And of course you'll have days to rest and recover."_

" _This will be so cool! We'll be like Charlie's Angels…or in this case, Coulson's Angels!"_

_Both Simmons and May just smiled at Skye's antics._

" _Now why did you have to pull rank, Simmons?"_

_Skye took over answering._

" _I wanted to record the video for our own personal copy. Jemma didn't want me to since it's an invasion of privacy. And she was right."_

_May didn't say anything. Instead, she turned to the screen and watched as Fitz and Triplett engaged in hand-to-hand combat, with Triplett giving the younger man some pointers every now and then. Not knowing what else to do, Simmons and Skye followed suit._

_The three women watched on. Except for the occasional gasps and expressions like "ouch, that had to hurt" or "nice one," they mostly stayed silent._

_That was until Triplett accidentally tore Fitz's shirt with his last move. With his shirt useless, Fitz had decided to remove it all together._

" _Simmons," May said, having been the first to recover from her shock. "I'm pulling rank. Skye, start recording."_

_Skye didn't waste any time in following her new orders._

" _Holy shit, Fitz is ripped! I totally did not expect that." She turned to Simmons, who still had her eyes on the viewscreen. "Why do_ you _look so surprised?"_

_Simmons turned to her in confusion._

" _Why wouldn't I be?"_

" _Because this shouldn't be new to you. You've been sleeping with him for almost two months!"_

_Simmons felt her whole head heat up._

" _You've got it all wrong, Skye! We only sleep next to each other. We don't—we don't do_ that _. Oh, goodness, is that what everyone else thinks as well?"_

_Instead of answering, Skye fixed her with a pointed look._

" _Really?" she asked, her question filled with skepticism. "You and Fitz just sleep_ next _to each other?"_

_Knowing that she would never be able to lie to either Skye or May, Simmons gave in._

" _All right, fine. I sleep in his arms. And sometimes, he sleeps in mine. But we're both fully clothed!"_

" _And you didn't notice anything while you were snuggling up to Fitz?"_

" _I noticed he's filled up some, yes. But I didn't know it was to_ this _," she gestured to the camera feed, "extent. It's not like I feel up my best friend as he sleeps."_

_Skye turned to look at the viewscreen again._

" _I wouldn't blame you if you did. I mean,_ damn _. Remember when I first joined the team and Fitz would be so awkwardly flirty around me?" Simmons did remember, and the memory brought a frown to her face. Unbeknownst to Simmons' displeasure, Skye gave a soft chuckle. "If I hadn't been with Miles back then, I would have—"_

_She turned back to Simmons, and her smile disappeared. She'd finally noticed that Simmons was full on glaring at her._

"— _I would have totally stayed away from him," Skye backpedaled hurriedly. "Because no matter what you two are to each other, he most definitely would always be yours." She finished with a cheesy smile._

_Simmons didn't smile back, but she at least dropped her glare._

" _Oh, look!" Skye said in false cheeriness as she pointed to the viewscreen. "Trip is taking off his shirt now, too. Yay. I shall focus on that." Then she sent a sideways glace at Simmons. "Please don't shoot me with an ICER…or anything else for that matter."_

_Simmons rolled her eyes._

" _I'm not going to shoot you with an ICER."_

" _Or anything else?"_

_Simmons nodded._

" _Or anything else," she confirmed._

" _Okay, let's talk about Triplett now," Skye said excitedly. Then a second later, her excitement drastically dropped. "He's not as much fun to talk about, huh? I mean, we all knew he was buff. No shirt can hide any of_ that _."_

" _Still, it's great to see those muscles again," May said, finally breaking her long silence._

" _Again? When was he shirtless?" Simmons asked._

_Skye and May exchanged a look before simultaneously looking at Simmons._

" _It was when you and Fitz were captured," Skye began._

_The answer caught Simmons off guard. She wasn't prepared for the onslaught of unpleasant thoughts that suddenly filled her head._

" _Oh…."_

" _Trip got hurt," May continued. "I was patching him up."_

" _We were at the back of the jumpjet, though, so the lighting was terrible." Simmons applauded Skye's effort in trying to, well, lighten the mood. "At least the cargo hold has great lighting. It's easier to appreciate looking at something when you can actually see it properly."_

_Suddenly, May stepped towards the holocom. With precise swipes, she closed all the windows and running programs, and the viewscreen blinked out to black._

_Before Skye or Simmons could ask May what that was about, Coulson's form blocked the entrance of the Command Center._

" _Good morning, ladies," he greeted with his usual smile._

_Simmons' panic and nervousness rendered her speechless. She did feel a little better, however, when she saw that Skye seemed to be in the same state she was in. And she felt extremely grateful that May had been with them._

" _Good morning, Phil," May had greeted back evenly._

" _Is everything okay?" Coulson looked from Simmons to Skye in concern. Simmons, for her part, tried to hide her guilt by looking down._

" _Everything's fine." Simmons had never appreciated May as much as she did at that moment. "We're just having some female bonding time." The smile May gave Coulson was so serene that it looked out of place on her face._

_Coulson must have thought so too because he looked back at her in suspicion._

" _You? Bonding with other females?_ Willingly _?"_

_May rolled her eyes._

" _Yes, Phil," she said impatiently. "And you're kind of ruining it being all male and all."_

" _All right, all right." His smile was back. "I know when I'm not wanted. I'll go see what the guys are up to. Maybe we can have our own male bonding time."_

" _I think they're working out in the cargo hold."_

" _That's good. I'll join them. It's been a while since I've lifted. See you ladies later."_

_Simmons was able to get her mouth to let out a 'see you later, sir' as he walked away._

_As soon as May was sure he was out of earshot, she turned to Skye._

" _Keep recording," she ordered._

_Skye made a face._

" _I really don't want to see AC working out. I mean, he's like my dad."_

_May gave her one of her pointed stares._

" _But I'll make sure I get good close ups of him for your copy, May. No problem."_

_Later that night, Skye discretely handed Simmons a flash drive with the screencaps and video recordings she'd wanted._

That was the last night Simmons had seen the flash drive. Until, of course, she'd purposely dug it out from its hiding place just minutes earlier.

Surprisingly, seeing the flash drive again had started to bring forth thoughts she'd buried long ago. Like how Fitz's pectorals bulged underneath his shirt each time he pushed on the barbell. Or how the lines that separated his deltoids from his biceps and his biceps from his triceps had become more defined each time he raised his arms up to block the kicks that Triplett would send his way. Or how well-formed his abdominal muscles looked when he tightened his abs in his boxing stance. Or how droplets of sweat would roll from the drenched curls at the nape of his neck, down his back, and then get absorbed by the waistband of his shorts.

A beep from her tablet snapped Simmons out of her thoughts. When her tablet continued to beep steadily, she realized that Fitz must have connected himself to the heart monitor already. She smiled at Fitz's thoughtfulness.

Then she remembered her previous thoughts on her best friend and blushed. It looked like she didn't need to see the contents of the flash drive, after all. Sure, she still wasn't certain of what the extent of her feelings were for Fitz. But at least she now knew that she _can_ see him in—as Skye had put it— _that_ _way_.

However, even though she had her answer (at least to that one question), she had already taken the effort into digging the flash drive out of her drawer. It would be such a waste if she didn't at least take a quick peek. It would be for scientific purposes, of course. She just wanted to make sure her memory was still working with perfect accuracy by seeing how her recollections matched up to the real events. That's all.


	6. Day 9/The Gala

"Excuse me, would you like to dance?"

Simmons looked up at the young officer and forced a smile.

"No, thank you," was her short reply before she turned her attention back to the small notepad lying flat on the table. She'd stopped feeling guilty at the look of disappointment her rejection brought onto each man's face after the sixth one came along. And that was about an hour ago. Now, all she felt were annoyance and irritation at the interruptions.

It was the night of the gala that the US Naval Academy Alumni Association and the West Point Association of Graduates were throwing to commemorate the rebirth of S.H.I.E.L.D. Every seat in the ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center was filled. There were generals and admirals, lieutenants and corporals, senators and ambassadors, Council members, and several of the returning S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in attendance. At the moment, the ceremonies were over and all that was left were a bunch of high-ranking officials drinking away their inhibitions and dancing stiffly in their dress uniforms, suits, or evening gowns to a broad assortment of music ranging from pop to rock to classical.

Simmons had wanted to leave hours ago. As soon as the closing speech was made, she thought she'd finally had a chance to escape to her lab and be able to talk freely with Fitz again. However, Coulson took that hope away when he had ordered the team to stay for the after party. She knew he wanted them to mingle and interact with everyone, especially the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. But since he didn't explicitly make it an order, she instead took out a pen and a small notepad from the clutch bag she'd brought, and started jotting down ideas for the ongoing upgrades she and Fitz were making on the D.W.A.R.F.s. To make matters worse, her phone's battery had died, so she couldn't even exchange text messages with him like she'd been doing throughout the speeches. She hadn't thought to pack the charger or an extra battery pack when they'd left the BUS. And unfortunately, the gala was lasting far longer than she had anticipated.

All of the five speeches made were long-winded. And so were the introductions about the speaker of each speech. Simmons was used to long lectures from her schooling days. But even she had gotten bored as the speakers droned on and on. And when the speeches weren't boring her, they were offending her. Each address held thinly veiled insults that were interwoven along with the compliments. Simmons clenched her teeth whenever it was hinted that loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents should have suspected something amiss. How could they have done so when the deception had seeded itself long before any of them became agents? It also bothered her when all the good deeds the old S.H.I.E.L.D. had done had been omitted completely, as if they didn't matter any longer.

Then she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes when the insults were followed up with words of encouragement, well-wishes for their continued success, and platitudes of a job well done at having come so far. Even more ridiculous was the ceremony in which a U.S. general, a U.S. admiral, and all five Council members called Coulson up on stage where he was presented with a new insignia for the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. as if they had the right to. The only person authorized to give directorship of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Coulson had already done so months before.

Despite how horrible her night had turned out, however, her day had started out wonderfully. Simmons and Skye had an agreement to help each other get ready. Skye's enthusiasm about attending her first gala was so contagious that Simmons found herself starting to look forward to it as well.

Two hours before they were due to leave, however, the two women hit a snag. They had already gotten into their gowns—Simmons' a vintage-cut salmon and Skye's an elegant, classic black—when they realized that neither of them knew how to apply makeup. Sure, they'd both used lip gloss, a little bit of blush, and maybe some mascara in their everyday wear. But neither had any experience applying makeup that would compliment their formal, evening attire. Luckily, May knew how to do just that and offered her assistance. The three women finished getting ready together, and Simmons found that she really cherished those moments where she and her female friends would bond over trivial things.

However, as much fun as she had getting ready with Skye and May, there was a large part of her that kept wishing Fitz was there with them as well. Maybe not literally in the room with them since that would have been odd and would definitely disrupt their girl time. But certainly somewhere on the BUS. Possibly in his bunk trying to tame his curls in front of his mirror. Or with Triplett and Coulson having (what Triplett would call) some bro-time of their own.

Simmons also kept thinking about the black suit that hung in Fitz's closet at the Playground. As much as she loved his usual style of buttoned-down shirts under a smart looking jumper, denim bottoms, and a tie to put it all together; she had to admit that he looked dashing in that suit. If she had known that it would be the only time she'd see him in it, she would have snapped a picture (or ten) of him at that Men's Wearhouse fitting room. She'd asked him once why he'd bothered purchasing it in the first place since he'd known he wasn't going on the mission with the rest of the team. His only reply was that Coulson insisted. She assumed it was to keep things fair. How unjust it would have been if the rest of the team received a new outfit while he did not. In any case, Simmons was glad Fitz had it. As much as she disliked how the gala had turned out, she hoped another event would come up that would require him to wear that suit.

Suddenly, someone flopped heavily onto the seat next to hers, effectively bringing Simmons out of her thoughts. It was Triplett in his navy blue suit. Simmons returned to her notepad after greeting him with a genuine smile.

"Have you even left this table at all?" he asked after gulping down a bottle of water.

"I have, in fact. I went to the loo about thirty minutes ago. And I stood up to get some tea about fifteen minutes ago," she answered without looking up from her work.

"Come on, girl. Don't tell me you're going to mope around for the rest of the night?"

That got Simmons to shift her eyes from her notepad but only so she could glare at her friend.

"I am not moping. I just don't find it worthwhile being here."

"You mean it's not worthwhile being here without Fitz?"

Simmons didn't say anything, but that was exactly it. She was pleasantly surprised and very grateful when she tried looking for the tease in Triplett's expression and didn't find it.

"Look, Simmons. I get it. I miss him, too. And it really sucks that he's not here." The tease she was searching for suddenly showed up. "I mean, there's this pair of twin hotties over there that he and I could totally—"

Simmons punched him on his upper arm before he could finish, and Triplett just laughed at her.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he said between his laughter. "You should have seen the look on your face!" Simmons continued to glare at him. "I'm sorry," he said after he's finished, and it almost sounded sincere. "But at least seeing you angry was better than seeing you all gloomy. Come on, dance with me." He nodded his head towards the makeshift dance floor in the center of the ballroom.

"I'm really not up to it, Trip." Simmons could hear the tiredness and exasperation in her voice, but Triplett chose not to hear them and kept insisting.

"Look, there's a man fifteen steps behind you heading this way. How much do you want to bet he'll be asking you to dance?"

"I'll just refuse like I've been successfully doing all night."

"I think he's the son of one of the Councilmen. Do you really want to insult the son of a Councilman?"

Simmons sighed in defeat, then she closed her notepad and handed it to Triplett.

"Could you put this in your pocket, please? I don't want anyone stealing Fitz's invention."

"I'll shoot them with an ICER if they even try," he promised as he placed the notepad into his breast pocket.

Triplett held out his hand to Simmons, who promptly took it. They stood up just as the Councilman's son approached. Simmons gave a small smile and pulled Triplett onto the dance floor without a second glance. It was only when they reached the center of the dancing crowd did Simmons realize a slow song was playing. Hesitantly, she placed her left hand on his right shoulder and her right one on his left hand. There was good one foot of space between them. She tried to relax into the dance, but she couldn't. So she tried to cover up her uneasiness by talking.

"Where's Skye? I haven't seen her since they opened up the dance floor."

In response, Triplett turned them around so Simmons could see Skye at the edge of the crowd dancing with a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Then he leaned down and spoke lowly so only she would hear.

"She's been chatting up people and trying to gain as much intel as she could about each person."

Simmons immediately felt guilty. Here she was isolating herself and making Skye do all the work. The guilt must have shown on her face because Triplett was quick to reassure her.

"Hey, stop that. Skye understands. And she's having way too much fun with this assignment anyways."

Simmons furrowed her eyebrows.

"How much fun exactly?"

"Well, not _that_ much fun. I step in pretending to be the jealous ex-boyfriend whenever someone starts to get a little too handsy. Don't worry. I've got an eye on her. And she's got an eye on me, too. Saved me a few times already. Women officers sure are forward." His joke successfully lightened the mood and she was finally able to relax.

They swayed to the music in silence until it ended. Another slow song replaced it.

"So you want to keep dancing, or do you want to get back to your notepad?"

"I supposed one more song wouldn't hurt."

Triplett's smile really was blinding.

"See, this night wasn't so bad, was it?"

She smiled back.

"I guess not. I mean, the gala really was a nice gesture. And it looked like they really had gone all out on this event."

"I know! Seriously, who's paying for all this? Because that filet mignon was amazing."

"Was it? I had the grilled salmon, and it was delicious."

"And to have an open bar? Don't these people have work in the morning?"

"It doesn't look like any of them care." She gave a soft laugh. Then she lowered her voice so he had to lean down again to be able to hear her. "I'm still not sure if I agree with Director Coulson about having to work with these people. But if there's one thing I'm thankful for, it's that—with this gala—they've publicly declared that we _are_ the good guys and not a terrorist group."

"Yeah. That _would_ make our jobs easier when we don't have the DOD or Interpol trying to capture us."

"Yes, that. But also it would allow Leo and me to finally be able to go home and see our families."

"Oh…I hadn't thought of that."

"We envied you. How you were able to see your family whenever we were in their area."

"I'm sorry, I didn't even think—I wasn't rubbing it in your—"

"—No, Trip. Don't be sorry. I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty. I'm… _we're_ happy for you. Leo and I wished that we had the same freedom (if you could call it that) to visit our families, yes. But we would never want you to feel bad that you were able to visit yours."

"Still, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing apologize for. But to make you feel better, I accept your apology." She gave him a smile. Then she sighed wistfully. "I can't wait to go home, though, and see my parents. The phone calls and emails are wonderful, and I'm extremely grateful to Skye for finding a way for us to contact our families. But sometimes, they aren't enough. Especially for poor Mrs. Fitz. Goodness, having to tell her about what happened to Leo was one of the worst experiences of my life."

"Is she all right now, though? I mean, she knows Fitz is fine, right?"

"Yes, she knows. After Leo remembered enough about his mom, he's contacted her practically every day. But sometimes, you just have to see that a loved one is all right with your own eyes. Unfortunately, it's too dangerous to video-chat. Even with Skye's amazing skills, streaming video is a lot harder to hide than voice transmissions because of the much larger file size, especially when the other end is _not_ a secure line _and_ overseas. Skye would have found a way, we don't doubt that. But Leo and I didn't want to risk it. We'd never do anything that could potentially put the team or our families in danger."

"Have you guys asked Coulson for some time off?"

"Not yet. We wanted to see how this event will turn out first. Since it went well, I'll ask the first chance I get tomorrow."

"I just thought of something," Triplett said with a frown on his face. "If you go to Sheffield and Fitz goes to Glasgow, you two will be separated again."

Simmons burst into laughter. She couldn't help herself. And the confused look on Triplett's face just made her laugh harder.

"I have no idea what I said that was so funny, but it's really nice to hear you laugh again."

Simmons tried taking deep breaths to compose herself.

"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. "It was the thought of going home without Leo. That's just ridiculous. Goodness, my parents would never forgive me if I showed up at their doorstep without him."

Triplett raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

"Yes! They love him like the son they never had. They were devastated when I told them about what happened to him. In fact, I told my parents first before calling Mrs. Fitz. I needed some advice on how to tell a mother that her only child was…not well."

"What did they tell you?"

"They told me that a mother should never hear that kind of news when she was alone. Then they cancelled all their appointments for the next two weeks and closed the clinic. Their patients were very understanding when they were told it was a family emergency."

"That's right, your parents are doctors."

"Yes, family practice. Anyways, they packed up and flew to Glasgow the first chance they got. We timed it so that they showed up at Mrs. Fitz's home just before I made the call. My parents stayed with her for those two weeks. Then dad went back to Sheffield to run the clinic by himself. Mom wouldn't dare leave her alone. It wasn't until Fitz himself started calling _them_ —not just his mother, but my parents as well—did everything go back to normal. Well, as normal as can be expected."

Then Triplett burst into laughter, and it was Simmons' turn to be confused. She had no idea what she'd said that was so funny. If this was in retaliation for her earlier outburst, then…well, she guessed she deserved it.

"I never stood I chance, did I?" Triplett said as soon as he composed himself. Then he laughed again.

"Pardon?"

"I mean, when I finally realized your best friend had a thing for you, I knew that I was completely outclassed. So I bowed out. No way could I complete with that. But to have your parents in love with him too?" Triplett shook his head. "Damn. I really did not have a chance _at all_."

When it finally dawned on Simmons that he was going on about his past interest in her, she had to look away to hide her discomfort.

"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say.

"Hey. Don't be," he said sincerely. "We're cool. And I'm glad to have you as my friend." Simmons chanced a glance at him and saw him giving her a grin. "In fact, you're one of my best friends."

She returned his smile.

"Let me guess. I'm one out of three of your best friends," she teased.

"Well, yes. But if I work it out right, Skye would be more than my best friend sometime soon." He gave her a wink.

Simmons eyes lit up in excitement.

"We've already established that Skye's my female best friend, so you should know that what you've just told me will reach her ears as soon as I get her alone."

"I'm actually counting on that." His grin was contagious. "Anyways, going back to you and me, when I thought about it, I realized it would have never worked out. Then it would have ended badly, and that would have really sucked because I really like having you as a best friend."

"Ended badly? How so?"

"Well, if you were ever given an ultimatum and had to choose between being Fitz's best friend or being some other guy's girlfriend, who would you choose?"

"Leo," she answered immediately. "He's been my best friend and lab partner since we were eighteen and training at the Academy. If this 'some other guy' really loved me, he'd never make me choose. He'd already know that I will always need Leo in my life."

"I get that. And I'd like to think that I'm secure enough to understand that my girl needs to depend on someone else besides me. But it's a whole nother story when my girlfriend is snuggling up to another man, even if she only saw that man as a friend."

"What's wrong with that, though? Friends can snuggle!"

Triplett raised an eyebrow at her.

"Would you snuggle with _me_?" he challenged.

Simmons looked away.

"Well, it's different with Leo," she said, not wanting to let out an outright 'no.' "We've known each other for eight years now. I'm completely comfortable with him."

"Okay. I'll accept that. But would you be okay with Skye snuggling with Fitz?"

Simmons bit her bottom lip before answering.

"Fine. You've proven your point."

Triplett shot her a smug grin, and Simmons slapped him on the shoulder for it.

"I really don't get why you guys aren't together."

Simmons shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess we just never wanted the complications of romance to get in the way of our platonic and professional relationship."

"So you're saying that in the eight years you've known each other, nothing non-platonic had ever happened between you two? Aside from Fitz recently falling in love you, of course."

"No."

"No drunken kiss or waking up naked in bed next to each other?"

Simmons felt her face flush, though she couldn't tell if it was because she was scandalized at the suggestion or because it appealed to her.

She decided it was probably a little bit of both.

"No. Nothing of the sort had ever happened between us."

"Do you see that sort of thing happening between you guys now?"

She felt her face burn even hotter.

"You've definitely been spending a lot of time with Skye. You've adopted her habit of being too forward with questions."

"And _you_ are evading the question, Dr. Simmons."

She sighed.

"Honestly, now that Skye's got me thinking in that line of thought, I actually _can_ see myself being with Leo in that way. Preferably when we're both not drunk."

"But what about how you feel about him? Do you return his feelings?"

"That's the part I haven't figured out yet."

Triplett frowned.

"So let me get this straight. There's this guy. He's good-looking, an actual genius, incredibly brave, and loyal to a fault. He'd do anything for you and follow you wherever you go. And you'd do the same for him. He understands all your science speak and is your intellectual equal. He gets along with your parents, and you get along with his mom. He's your best friend in the entire world and you are his, and you know everything about each other. You trust him completely—both personally and professionally. You absolutely _hate_ being away from him, and you constantly think about him whenever you two are apart. You apparently find him sexually appealing. And to top it all of, he's head-over-heels in love with you." He paused and raised an eyebrow at her. "Seriously, girl, what more are you looking for?"

Simmons actually stopped dancing to think about it.

"Why does it sound so simple when you put it like that?"

"Truthfully, it really _is_ that simple." He gave her a gentle smile. " _You're_ that one making things difficult."


	7. The Reunion

Since the after party had lasted well into the early hours of the morning, Coulson had postponed their departure time to 3:00 PM. He'd wanted to give the team some extra hours of sleep before they left the Air Force base (where the BUS had been parked during their stay in Pennsylvania) and headed for the HUB.

Simmons, however, chose not use those extra hours to sleep in. She was up at her usual hour of 7:00 AM and had already showered, dressed, and eaten by 8:00. Despite only having had four hours of sleep, she felt refreshed and full of energy—energy that was fueled by the anticipation of speaking with Fitz again.

After washing the dishes she'd used to eat her breakfast, Simmons grabbed her phone and made her way towards the lab. She hadn't planned on working on any projects or experiments (as uncharacteristic as that was), but the lab would give her and Fitz some privacy. Also, since the bunks weren't soundproof, Simmons would have definitely disrupted her teammates' sleep if she had her conversation with Fitz anywhere on the Upper Deck. (Well, possibly not in the cockpit, but she wasn't about to invade May's sanctuary without her permission.)

Once she entered the lab, Simmons made her way towards her usual chair and sat down. She then lifted her feet up, rested them on the seat, and leaned back comfortably against the back rest. Now settled, she pressed and held the '1' on the phone's numeric keypad, and set the phone to 'speaker' when it began ringing.

"Jemma?" Leo's voice sounded confused when he answered at the end of the second ring.

"Good morning, Leo!"

"Why are you awake? I've just read the email from Coulson informing me that he'd given you guys the morning off."

"He _did_ give us the morning off. But I wasn't going to waste it sleeping."

She heard him chuckle softly.

"Only you, Miss Jemma, would consider sleep a waste of time."

"Don't mock me," Simmons said lightly. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are that I've decided to spend my time off talking to you instead of doing something useful?" She'd meant for the question to be a joke, and her tone conveyed that.

But when Fitz replied with, "I do, actually," his voice was soft and full of sincerity. It caused something in her chest to flutter, and a smile made its way onto her face.

"You sound rather sprightly for having had but a few hours of sleep," he said after a few moments of silence. "Is there a reason for that? 'Cause I don't recall you ever being this much of a morning person. Unless you've had some strong coffee….Dear god, Jemma! Tell me you hadn't had any coffee. You know how badly you crash after a few hours."

Simmons laughed at his panic. But inwardly, she was touched by his concern and pleased that he knew her so well.

"Relax, Leo. I'm not about to make that mistake again anytime soon. And for your information: There _is_ a reason."

"Are you going to tell me? Or did you want me to guess?"

Simmons breathed in deeply. This was it—this was the moment that would redefine their relationship and change everything. (Well, hopefully not _everything_.)

"It's just…Trip and I finally had our long-overdue talk last night."

"Oh?" Fitz paused for a couple seconds before speaking again. "And did it go well?"

"I'd say so."

Another pause.

"Did it…did it go well for Trip?" he asked hesitantly.

"I guess you could say that. Our talk did end with the outcome he was looking for."

A longer pause.

When he spoke again, his voice was low and filled with anxiety.

"Please, Jemma. Stop being so cryptic. Just tell me whether or not you're dating Trip already." He was practically begging, and Simmons felt immensely guilty for making him so anxious.

"Leo," she said gently. "I'm not dating Trip."

"You're not?" His sounded unsure, yet hopeful.

"Of course not," she said patiently. "He's not the one for me."

"He isn't?"

"When Trip and I were talking, he told me that if he and I had ever gotten together, he believes we would never have lasted long, and the relationship would have ended badly."

"Did he say why?"

Simmons nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"He said he was outclassed by a man—a very brave and kind and handsome man. A man who knows me better than anyone else in the world, and who I trust more than anyone I know or will ever meet. A man who I will always stand by if I am ever given the ultimatum. And then he made me realize how simple the choice actually is. There really is only one man who's perfectly right for me. And he's been beside me the whole damn time."

Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for Fitz to say something.

"I've heard what you said, Jemma. But I just…I need you to spell it out for me, please. I mean, I think I know what you're saying. But if I'm wrong, which I don't think I am but there's still a possibility that I could be, I don't think I could take—"

"—I love you, Leo." She paused to allow the words to sink in. "I'm in love with you."

"You're sure?" Awe and disbelief laced his words, and Simmons couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, I am."

"Hmm."

Simmons smirked in amusement.

"' _Hmm_?' That's all you have to say? Had I really caused Dr. Fitzy to become dumbstruck?"

"Sorry! I'm just…I'm still processing. I haven't the words yet."

"Is it really so hard to believe?" She was genuinely curious now.

The slight delay in his response worried her.

"No, I suppose it isn't. I just wasn't prepared for—"

"—Me to return your feelings?"

"Yeah. I've actually prepared myself for anything _except_ that. Got my speech all figured out and everything."

"Speech?"

"You know, the 'best friend' speech. Where I tell you that I'll always be your best friend—which I _always_ will be—and that I'll not get in the way of you and Trip. Got my email to Coulson saved in my 'drafts' folder, too."

"What email?"

"Nothing you have to be concerned about," he said quickly, and Simmons got the distinct impression that he hadn't meant to tell her about the email. "It's useless now, anyway, and I plan to delete it later."

"Leo, what was in the email?"

She heard Fitz give a heavy sigh.

"A request for transfer."

" _What_?" Simmons practically yelled into the phone.

"Just a temporary one. And not for long. Maybe a few weeks or so. A month or two max."

Two months without Fitz? Simmons wasn't prepared for the pain that the thought brought her.

"I know that it's running away, and it's selfish," Fitz continued. "And I realize that no amount of time would help me get over you. But it would have at least given me enough time to compose myself."

"Leo, _don't_."

The words slipped out of her mouth before her mind had processed what she was urging him _not_ to do. Not to leave her? Not to be away from her? Not to run away? Not to stop loving her?

All of the above.

Like always, he'd understood what she'd meant anyway.

"Of course I won't. I'll be with you for as long as you'll have me."

"Forever, then. Because I could barely stand these last ten days away from you." Simmons didn't care how pathetic she most likely sounded.

"I hate being away from you, too. I hardly sleep now as is."

"You've hardly been sleeping? Leo, why didn't you tell me?"

She heard him curse himself under his breathe before he addressed her again.

"Can you just forget you heard that?"

" _No_. Now why did you not tell me you've been having trouble sleeping?"

"Because there was no point in worrying you."

"I beg to differ—"

"—Jemma, _please_. Can you please let it go? I don't want to argue with you right now."

Simmons took a deep, calming breathe.

"All right. I don't want to argue with you either. This was supposed to have been a happy moment."

"You told me that you're in love with me," Fitz said, his tone lightening up. "Believe me, you've made me very happy."

Simmons smile at his words. But that didn't stop her from prying.

"Can you at least explain why you thought telling me was pointless?"

He sighed again.

"The reason I have trouble sleeping is because you're not in my arms. I've gotten too accustomed to holding you that I can't sleep without you. But the last thing I wanted was to guilt you into coming home just so I could get a proper night's rest."

"Home?" she'd said aloud without meaning to. It was such an odd concept. Besides the occasional visits, she hadn't lived in her childhood home for several years. The single dorm room at the Academy just served as a place to sleep, shower, and change clothes; so she barely missed it at all. A part of her had missed the apartment she shared with Fitz prior to joining Coulson's team. But when she and Fitz began doing everything on the BUS as they did in the apartment, she'd stopped missing it altogether. And her room at the Playground never felt like home. In fact, Fitz's room felt more like home to her than hers did.

The proverbial light bulb clicked on in her head, and she felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner: Home had always been where Fitz was.

"Did I say 'home'? I'm sorry. I meant 'the Playground.'"

"No. I think you had it right the first time." She hadn't realized she'd started crying until her even breathing turned into sniffles. "I wish you were here right now. Or that I was there with you."

"Oh, god, I've made you cry," he said in concern.

She didn't bother trying to hide it. It wasn't like she could lie to him anyway.

"It's not your fault…or well, it is. You're the one who insisted on the separation. But you were right—I did need it so I could finally see what you are to me. I just miss you so much."

There was a beat of silence before Fitz posed his next question.

"You guys are headed to the HUB next, yeah?"

The question was so random and out of place that Simmons had momentarily forgotten her sadness.

"Yes. We don't depart until 3:00 in the afternoon, though. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm meeting you there."

"Wait. _What_?"

"I did the math. The jumpjet's much faster than the BUS. So despite my being a lot farther from the HUB than you, I'll beat you there by a few hours if I leave soon."

"Leo, are you being serious? Because if this is a joke, it's really not funny." She couldn't help the bubble of excitement that started forming within her.

"I'm completely serious. In fact, I'm on my way to the hangar right now to fuel up the jumpjet."

Sure enough, Simmons could hear his quick footsteps as he walked.

"Are you sure you want to do this? It's going to be a long, lonely flight. I doubt agent Koenig will leave the base to accompany you."

The footsteps stopped.

"First of all, did you really just ask if I was sure I'd want to be with you today? Really, Jemma? You know I do." He started walking again. "I'll endure anything to get to you. And why would it be a lonely flight? I'll have my phone. You'll be beside me the whole time, right?"

"Right."

She knew that she should be trying harder to convince him not to do something so reckless. But if she had a jet of her own sitting around and she knew how to fly it, she'd have been back at the Playground hours— _days—_ ago.

"Could you ask Coulson to clear the airspace for me, please? And if he could get in contact with air traffic control and the HUB? I really don't fancy getting shot down because they think I'm attacking."

"I'll do that now. The rest of the team should be awake."

"Then I'll let you go. I have to get the jet ready and pack my things, anyways. I'll see you in a few hours, yeah?"

"I'll see you in a few hours," she echoed.

"And Jemma?"

"Yes, Leo."

"I love you, too."

A broad smile made its way onto her face, and she involuntarily let out a giggle.

"Hold on now! Did Jemma Simmons just giggle?" Fitz's teasing comment had her laugh out loud.

"Oh, shut up, you," she said with affection. "Hurry up and get that jet of yours ready so you can leave for the HUB."

"Was that an order?"

"Yes. Yes, it was."

"I better get to it, then. See you soon."

With that, Fitz hung up, and Simmons wasted no time making her way out of the lab and up the stairs towards the Upper Deck. She found the team spread between the galley and dinning area getting ready for brunch. Skye was the first to notice her presence.

"Oh my god, Jemma. Are you all right?" The concern in her voice stopped Simmons in her tracks. Skye stood from her seat and walked towards her. Once she was close enough, she gave Simmons a big hug. "You look like you've been crying."

Belatedly, Simmons realized she should have checked her appearance before making her way upstairs. Before she could say anything to calm her friend's worries, Skye had stepped back but kept a hand on her upper arm. She then turned towards Triplett, who was standing in the galley.

"I thought you said they should be okay now; that you got Simmons to— _quote—_ finally see the light— _unquote_."

Triplett immediately defended himself.

"Hey! She _was_ all right last night."

"Then why has she been crying?" she demanded.

"I don't know! I've been in bed, just like you. Why don't you ask _her_?"

"Oh….Right," she said sheepishly. "Sorry."

Triplett just gave her one of his blinding smiles in response.

After a few seconds, Skye seemed to have remembered that she still had a hold of Simmons and turned to face her.

"So why have you been crying?"

"I was just speaking with Fitz—" The intense dread that made its way onto Skye's face caused Simmons to hurry her explanation. "—It was a good cry! Well, not necessarily a _good_ cry. Tears just started falling because I miss him so much. But Fitz and I are okay, I promise. Better than okay, in fact."

Skye's eyes lit up with excitement, and her lips parted into a huge grin.

"You and Fitz are together?"

Simmons returned her grin and nodded.

" _Finally_!" Skye practically tackled her into another hug, one which Simmons returned.

"Hell, yeah!" Triplett cheered from where he stood. Then he made his way over to her and gave her a hug as well. "Congratulations, bestie," he whispered in her ear before pulling back.

May offered her one of her rare smiles, which Simmons shyly returned.

"I trust that you and Agent Fitz won't let this change affect your work, Agent Simmons," Coulson said, his jaw clenched and his lips a thin line.

Simmons' heart sank.

"Oh, lighten up, AC," Skye responded before Simmons could say anything. "As if FitzSimmons would ever let anything affect their work. Plus, they've always been in a relationship. Only this time, it's all official and they both know they're in one."

Coulson's serious expression morphed into his usual smile.

"Thanks for ruining it, Skye," he said jokingly. "I was just teasing her." Then he turned his attention to Simmons. "You should see the look on your face right now. But seriously, Jemma, congratulations."

"So you're not angry that Fitz and I are violating the anti-fraternization code?" Simmons asked, still worried about breaking protocol.

"Well, I'm the Director, and I say it's okay. If I wasn't fine with it, I would have said something sooner—like when you started sleeping in Fitz's room." He smirked, and so had everyone else.

Simmons felt her face heat up.

"You all are going to take the mickey out of us, aren't you?" It was rhetorical. But Triplett found the need to answer her anyway.

"You bet your British accent we will. I just can't wait until we're back at the Playground," he said excitedly. Then he turned to Skye. "It will be so much fun seeing how red we can make Fitz turn." He slapped a high five with her.

At his words, Simmons remembered why she'd gone upstairs in the first place. She turned to Coulson.

"Sir, before I forget again, I have a request—"

"—You don't need to say any more. Trip already informed me that you and Fitz would like some time off to go home and visit your families. I've already approved two weeks of time off for you both starting the beginning of next month. I'd like to have given you more, but—"

"—Two weeks would be wonderful, sir. It's more than we were hoping for. Thank you." She bit her bottom lip before continuing. "But that actually wasn't what I was going to ask."

"Okay, then. Ask away."

"Could you please clear the airways between the Playground and the HUB? And could you also inform the HUB to expect another visitor?"

"Fitz is heading to the HUB?" Triplett asked, a huge grin spreading across his face.

"Yes. By his calculations, he'll beat us there by a few hours."

"Wheels up in fifteen," May said suddenly. Then she left towards the direction of the cockpit.

Simmons turned in her direction.

"What?" she asked in surprise. But May was already gone, so she turned to the others.

"We don't have to leave right now. I didn't mean to imply that we should."

"You didn't imply anything," Coulson reassured her. "You aren't the only one who's been missing Fitz. We all want to see him as much as you do…well, maybe not as much as you do."

If he wasn't the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Simmons would have punched his arm.

"But…your morning off…. We could just leave at 3:00 as planned. Fitz and I—we…we could wait a few more hours." She was fidgeting her hands as she spoke, and the three people before her stared at them.

"We've really got to work on your lying," Coulson said, breaking the silence. "I'll be in my office making a few calls if any of you need me." Then he gave her one last smile before heading towards the staircase that led to his office.

* * *

Since the BUS left the Pennsylvanian Air Force base five-and-a-half hours before their scheduled departure time, Simmons and the team were able to beat Fitz and the jumpjet to the HUB by about a half-hour.

During their respective flights, Fitz and Simmons remained in constant contact with one another, but not through their usual means. Not liking the idea of Fitz removing his aviation headset so he could use his phone, May had invited Simmons into the cockpit so she could communicate with him using another pair of headset. The gesture was not lost to either Fitz or Simmons, and they thanked her profusely.

They only stopped their communications when Fitz was nearing the HUB. That way, he'd have all his concentration focused on landing the jumpjet. Also, Simmons wanted to be outside so she'd be able to greet him once he stepped off of the jet.

Not soon enough, the moment was finally there, and Simmons' heart rate picked up in anticipation.

Fitz had successfully landed the jet and had taxied it into the same hangar as the BUS. Then the jet made a complete stop and powered down. Shortly after, the aft ramp started to lower.

And there was Fitz…

…in his black suit.

His eyes immediately met hers. The grin that made its way onto his face caused Simmons' heart rate to speed up even more.

Before the ramp had completely lowered, Fitz had already started walking down on it. By the time he reached the end, the ramp had touched ground. He took five more steps, then stopped when he was a half-step in front of Simmons.

"Hi," he said, still grinning. And Simmons was quickly finding that she loved that grin.

"Hi," she said back.

"I really do love that smile of yours."

Simmons hadn't even realized she'd been smiling.

"I was just thinking about how much I really do love your grin."

They were quiet for a moment, each studying— _memorizing_ —the other. Then, as one, they moved forward.

Simmons sighed as she found herself in Fitz's arms again. Her arms wrapped around his neck just as his encircled her middle. Each pulled the other close and held on.

"You're finally here," she whispered just below his ear. She felt more than heard his chuckle.

"Yeah. Sorry for taking so long," he whispered back.

She frowned.

"Actually, I believe I was the one who took so long."

He shook his head slightly.

"Doesn't matter. We're finally at the same place." He leaned back slightly so he could look at her. "That's what's most important, right?"

"Right." She smiled up at him again. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are you all dressed up?"

"Because he's taking you out," Coulson's voice said from behind her. Only then did Simmons remember that they weren't alone. She turned around, still in Fitz's arms, too see their teammates all looking at them with smiles on their faces.

"What was that, sir?"

Her question was answered by Skye instead.

"There's an awesome, gourmet Italian restaurant about twelve miles south of here. Or at least the reviews I've read online said it was awesome. I've already programmed the address into the GPS. When you get there, tell them the reservation is under 'FitzSimmons.' But that's not until 6 PM, though, so lunch is up to you." A smirk appeared on her face. "Then you're going to have to find _some_ _way_ to occupy yourselves until 6:00. I sent the restaurant's phone number to your phones just in case you need to postpone or cancel the reservation for _any_ reason."

Simmons glared at her.

"And don't worry about your things," Triplett continued. "We'll get 'em and place 'em in the room you'll be assigned to. Yes, I said 'room.' As in, singular. I'll make sure you get a big bed, too. And make sure that it's away from any of _our_ rooms."

Simmons turned her glare on him, but he retaliated with a cheeky smile.

She broke eye contact with Triplett when May stepped forward and handed her something. It was a credit card.

"Don't forget to tip generously. I went deep undercover as a waitress for a week a while back. I hated people who didn't tip. And buy yourself something nice to wear so you don't look so underdressed next to Fitz."

"I-I couldn't. I've already gotten a dress—"

"—Which you've worn most of yesterday and part of today." Then she gave a teasing smile. "Do you really need me to make this an order?"

Simmons gave her smile and shook her head 'no.'

"Thank you."

"Oh, and Fitz?" Coulson called out. Then he threw something to him, which Fitz expertly caught.

It was a key attached to a keychain shaped like a miniaturized version of Captain America's shield. Simmons looked up at Fitz and noticed his confused expression.

"Uh, sir?" he began. "This isn't the key to the SUV."

Coulson gave him a smile.

"I know," he replied. "We'll properly say hello to you tomorrow." With that, he and the rest of the team turned and walked away.

Once they were left alone, Fitz and Simmons turned to each other as one and laughed excitedly.

"I can't believe he's lending us Lola," Simmons said after getting a hold of herself.

"Neither can I." Then, without warning, "I'll race you!"

He was off before she fully processed what he'd said.

"You cheat!" she exclaimed once she was seated in the passenger's side of the red Corvette.

"You're just mad that you didn't think of it first," he jested as he reversed Lola from the BUS's loading ramp. Simmons responded by childishly sticking out her tongue at him.

He drove forward until they were out of the hangar, then stopped the car. He turned to look at her.

"Before we head off," he said, "I need to hear you say it again."

"Say what, exactly?"

She tried to look puzzled, but a smile formed on her lips, effectively giving her away. Fitz gave her a pointed look.

"You know what." Then he pouted. "Please?"

Simmons laughed again; but inwardly, she melted.

"All right, _fine_." She paused to calm herself. "I'm in love with you, Leo."

She smiled at him, and he beamed at her.

"Okay, then," he said simply. Then he shifted gears, and started driving forward.

Simmons frowned.

"You know, it's customary to say it back."

"I know." He turned to her briefly to give a teasing smirk. "I just don't feel like it."

Simmons' jaw dropped, and she punched his arm.

"Ouch!" he cried out even as he laughed.

"Serves you right!"

"Don't _you_ know never to punch the driver? Seriously, woman, you're lucky I love you so much."

Her heart fluttered at those words, and all her irritation vanished. He turned to Simmons and gave her the grin she so loved.

They drove a bit more until they turned out of the secure zone and the high security wall hid the view of the HUB from them. Then Fitz slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the deserted road. Simmons furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Why'd you stop?"

In response, he leaned towards her. It took a split second for Simmons to realize what he was doing.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh.'" He grinned again. "Now are you going to meet me half-way?"

"Well, if you're going to be all bossy like that, I might as well make you do all the—"

His lips were suddenly on hers. It took her a second to respond. When she moved, so did he. And a delicious shiver traveled up her spine as he deepened the kiss. Needing more, she turned more towards him and brought a hand behind his neck to gently pull him closer. Taking the hint, Fitz leaned more into her, pressing her against the door panel. She encouraged it by moving her hands to his back and hugging him close.

The need to breath was the only reason they pulled apart. But they stayed close together with Fitz resting his head on her chest and Simmons running her fingers through his hair, something she'd been secretly wanting to do for months.

"Wow," he said breathlessly.

"Mmm hmm," she hummed in agreement.

"You don't think we're moving too fast, do you?"

"Not at all. It took us eight years to get to this point. And according to Trip, we should have shared a drunken kiss or woken up naked in bed together years ago."

"Maybe we'll do both within the next eighteen hours," he said jokingly.

Simmons flicked his ear for it.

But she didn't necessarily disagree.


End file.
